


To Each Their Own

by Piarelei



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: A/B/O, Alpha!Eren, Alpha!Levi, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Entertainment Industry, Eren is tall, Eventual Smut, Levi has a sensitive nose, M/M, Rating May Change, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2019-09-01 06:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16759957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Piarelei/pseuds/Piarelei
Summary: Levi sometimes wished he was an Omega. The thought did not cross his mind very often, but when it did, the raven always took the time to dwell on it. Sure, he did not want to go through heats on a monthly basis nor would he appreciate the unwanted and constant attention of salivating Alphas every time he would enter a room, but the thought of his scent being so alluring that the dominant of his choice would bend him over any plane surface without a word being spoken left him shivering with desire.Unfortunately, Levi was the one expected to bend someone other and fuck them thoroughly for the sake of Humanity.How terribly ironic.





	1. Shitty Day

**Author's Note:**

> This story will probably end up one of the longest story I've ever written, and so I wanted to give you some eventual trigger warnings, because I want you to be safe and feel relaxed while reading this. 
> 
> I'm not quite sure if they are going to happen, yet, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
> 
> • Mentions of non-con/dub-con about a minor character  
> • Panic attacks

Levi sometimes wished he was an Omega. The thought did not cross his mind very often, but when it did, the raven always took the time to dwell on it. Sure, he did not want to go through heats on a monthly basis nor would he appreciate the attention of those salivating Alphas every time he would enter a room but — oh fucking hell — he would give everything and more if he could magically transform into a Omega, all sheepish smiles and submissive scent, to get out of this suffocating office and the lecture that was slammed into his ears.

"Levi, what you did was incredibly rude and could cost us a very good partnership with—"

Big eyes wet with apologetic tears.

"I understand fully your slight aversion for people, most especially—"

Maybe long and naturally blond hair. Yeah, definitely, Erwin had a thing for blondes. Specifically blond Omegas, with their very omegan scent and wonderfully supple skin.

"This time I can't simply overlook your insulting behavior, you'll have to make a public apo— Are you even listening to me?"

An Omega would not even be in this very situation.

"No, I'm not **."** Levi replied softly, not in submission but simply without interest, not having the motivation to object, almost wishing he had not been heard.

Erwin sighed and rubbed at his temples, not finding in himself the strength to be more angered.

"I'm tired of speaking to nothing when you're standing right here... Just... Just go back to work for now. You'll have to deal with the consequences of your attitude, later. Whether you want it or not."

Levi did not have to be told twice, he spun around and got out of the door in seconds.

If he were an Omega, he would not have had to deal with Erwin and his never-ending rants. If he were an Omega maybe life would have been a bit easier; maybe he would have less difficulties to face.

Levi inhaled a short breath through his mouth and scrunched his nose when a potent and too familiar mix of scents fell on his tongue. His lips quickly formed a fine line and pulled up his medical mask to block out the unwanted odors. The raven then made a b-line to his office, deliberately ignoring the employees calling for his signature and his subordinates asking for news on the issue he created earlier this afternoon. He welcomed the quiet of his room with open arms.

Honestly, it had not really been his fault. First of all, he _really_ did not want to go to this meeting with one of their partner company to discuss a new project he could not remember about anymore and was in a terrible mood prior to the reunion. When he had pushed the door open, Nile Dok had been smiling at him, hand reached out and Levi had entered the room without a second thought.

And he had pulled his mask down – his only barrier against the world, taunt textile on his nose, dark and expensive. That was maybe his sole mistake.

At his first inspiration, his nostrils had flared and he had taken an unconscious step back.

_Omega_ , the scent nauseating and pungent in his throat, like shards of glass falling on his stomach.

Nile Dok had brought an Omega with his subordinates, freckled and shy but surrounded by the repugnant smell stinging at Levi's nose.

And Levi had lost his shit, before losing what he had had for lunch. He might have insulted some very innocent mothers — Nile Dok's and Erwin's, _mostly_ — and punched some less important persons — the poor guy who tried to calm him down by rubbing his back after throwing up had made a terrible mistake — but honestly, everything was mostly a blur. A very acrid one.

Levi sighed and rubbed his face in his hands, pulling his mask down and feeling a headache slowly hammering at his brain.

It was known throughout the company and their partners that Levi Ackerman did _not_ tolerate the presence of Omegas. Nobody knew why — he had never told anyone except Erwin — but rumors were enough to satiate the hungriest.

When met with an Omega, Levi became sick. And this fact only had earned him many laughs and mockeries. He was an Alpha, and an Alpha was to pin down, claim and bond an Omega.

The thought made the man scoff. God, even if he could bear the smell of any Omega, he would rather be the one pinned down. Really, even from far, far, far away Omegas were not his type. He liked towering guys — well, at least with his height it was not difficult to find — large shoulders and firm muscles that could fuck him into his mattress.

But decent, clean and willing partners were hard to come by: it was not easy to flirt in a bar with a glass of fizzy water and a medical mask covering half his face. A mask that Levi rarely took off, and definitely not in bars. He did not really need to as he did not consume alcohol anymore.

Bars were crowded with horny people — regardless of their dynamic — and horny people pressing against each other was the worst scent Levi ever had to face. Even if he ignored the sweat and the reeking of alcohol, the sweetness of the Omegas and the lust-filled cloud of the Alphas' scents made the experience unbearable without a serious protection — his scent-blocking masks that costed him more than he cared to admit in public.

Gob bless the holy Bêtas and their weak pheromones.

A knock at the door had him straighten up and put back his best protection on his nose. Without waiting for an agreement, _she knew she did not need one_ , the strawberry blonde entered shyly with a small smile and went up to his desk.

"Sir, are you okay?" She asked cautiously.

Levi slid his mask back on his chin and exhaled strongly.

"No Petra, I'm not fucking okay." He heard the Bêta gulp and almost felt sorry. "So what do you fucking want?"

She seemed to want to say something too personal and clearly not suited for their work relationship, and really, Levi hoped she would not, today he felt like he could easily rough one of his subordinate up. Even nice and really-good-at-making-a-pot-of-tea Petra.

Fortunately for the both of them, she stopped her fidgeting and did not give him any advice or comforting speech. The holiest of all the Bêtas.

"I'm simply bringing you the resumés of the interns beginning in the team next week." She laid an envelope in front of him and made a move for the door before stopping for a second. "It's the end of office hours soon." He felt her hesitate before softly adding, "I don't think anyone would blame you for leaving on time today, sir."

She left before he could say a word.

Levi heard more than he felt his teeth grinding together when he unconsciously contracted his jaw. He did not do all the 'leaving on time to a sappy movie on the couch with wine'. He did not do sappy and he did not do wine at all, actually. And he never left on time.

He really liked overtime, it was a moment of peace and quiet where he could concentrate totally on his work without the plethora of strong smells wafting in his office. Levi did not really need sleep and often stayed behind his desk until the guys of the security told him that they were closing for the night and that he had to _fucking get out_ before being trapped. Then he worked at home and forced himself to sleep for a few hours — never more than four.

But Petra was right, he should go home early and try to rest if he wanted to improve his mood for the next day. The work he had to do was essentially to clean the shit he had created earlier in the day and he was not ready to make calls with his most apologetic voice and explain his actions. He could not tolerate Omegas' scent, that was not hard to understand.

After switching his computer off and throwing his mask in the bin, replacing it with a fresh one up on his nose, Levi packed his computer and left his office. He briefly greeted the team he was in charge of and took the stairs to the parking lot — no one would ever find Levi in an elevator if he had a say in the matter.

It was only in the noiselessness of his car that he realized that he felt shitty, _really shitty_. He had lowered his mask and welcomed the neutral smell of the interior with open arms, the leather seat squeaking softly against his thighs. Everything invited for peace of mind but Levi felt the weight he had avoided all day fall on his shoulders, the headache he had tried to ignore hitting at his forehead.

It had happened again. He could not have refrained the fury he had felt when he realized he had trusted Nile Dok with too much. He would have probably kept his mask on if he had got the idea of a potential Omega in the room, but he also knew that Dok was aware of his condition and believed that he would refrain from bringing a subordinate from the intolerable dynamic. He did not. And the smell had made Levi throw up and cry — a perfectly natural reaction caused by the pungent bile climbing up his throat — in front of half a dozen of people. Blinded by his rage, he had begun to scream profanities, making the Omega cry when his only fault was to be present, and threw a few punches at the people who tried to soothe him. He then had left the room without an apology and hid in the closest restroom — despite the smell — not without kicking some really innocent potted plants on his way.

He could not tolerate the humiliation anymore. He was tired of his condition. Tired of the expectations put on him because of his secondary gender. Tired of the masks. Tired of the potent smells. Tired of trying to live normally when he was a mess. Tired of everything.

He needed a drink.

The thought hit him suddenly and its intensity was terrifying. He scoffed bitterly at the idea of dipping his lips in cold and burning amber, and let his forehead fall on the steering wheel, gripping it tightly until his joints stiffened and whitened. He had to breathe deeply three times before feeling that he was not about to drive off to the nearest stinking bar.

He slid his trembling fingers in his breast pocket and pulled out his phone. After fumbling with it a few seconds, he succeeded at typing his password and scrolled through his contacts to find the person he needed to call immediately.

The ringtone felt empty and long against his eardrum, giving Levi the opportunity to bang his head a few times against the wheel.

"Yes, Pumpkin pie?"

Levi almost felt like sneering at the nickname. He inspired quietly.

"I need a drink." He said with the calmest voice he could bring out. It still felt croaked in his ears.

Hanji did not answer before what seemed like an eternity.

"Okay, Levi. Where are you ?"

"Work."

He was nauseous and really could not form a full sentence.

"Do you need me to pick you up?"

Honestly, the raven was not sure. But he still wished to keep a bit of dignity.

"No, I'm in my car. I'm going home."

Hanji hummed in acknowledgment.

"Do you want to talk to me on your way there?"

Levi passed a hand through his hair, making a mess of the onyx locks.

"Yeah... Please." He softly whispered.

"Good. I'll be waiting at your door." Announced the woman cheerfully. "I'm already on my way."

Levi sighed, secretly finding comfort in the lightness of her tone.

"How was your day?" She asked after he heard rummaging on the other end of the phone.

He did not have to think before answering.

"Shitty."

Hanji had been waiting for half an hour — that was to say twenty minutes more than necessary to go from Levi's company to his apartment — when the man pushed open the staircase entrance and walked with heavy steps to his door. Without a greeting — they had just hung up — he rounded the woman to unlock the door and let her in.

"God, you look like a corpse!" Said his friend with enthusiasm while stepping through the threshold, after he had switched the lights on.

Trust the Bêta to say the worst insults with the most cheerful tone. Well, at least it was refreshing.

Levi had met Hanji at an A.A support group after his second rehab. Ackerman had been more grumpy than he was nowadays and had felt no shame in informing the whole room about his mood with a deathly glare. Erwin had had to find him an agnostic support group because Levi was not going to take "all this religious shit" he had to go through in rehab, but that did not make it less insufferable. The raven did not like people, he did not care about their miserable lives or alcohol issues. He had his own and that was fairly enough for him.

But Hanji had grabbed him by the wrist at the end of a discussion one day — when they had tried to have him talk but were all silenced by a glower — and she had begun to ask questions, silly things about his hair or more serious ones about his sobriety. Levi had ignored her at first but after a few more sessions and seriously annoying tugs at his arms, he had finally answered a few.

And Hanji never really released her hold on him. Before he had known it, her number had been saved in his phone and she was taking him out whenever she could.

"And I kinda wish I were."

Levi took off his suit jacket and carefully draped it over the armchair, letting the brunette do her things in the kitchen while humming an awfully popular song. He then pulled on his tie and undid a few buttons, letting his body fall on the couch.

"I brought lemonade!"

She slid on the couch at his side, two glasses filled with bubbles, ice and sugar in hands. Levi carefully took his own, praying to whoever or whatever would listen to him that Hanji would not spill anything on the very expensive Italian leather they were seated on.

He sipped a few times at his refreshment, looking at the black screen of his television, avoiding the insistent gaze of his friend. He knew he had called her and that he was going to talk, but procrastinating seemed like _such_ a good idea at the moment.

"So," finally begun Hanji. "You have yet to tell me why your day was so shitty."

Levi sighed and put his glass down on the coffee table, after sliding a coaster under it. He took a few seconds to gather his thoughts and find words to express his misery without beating about the bush. After a while — too long according to Hanji's nervous leg bouncing up and down — the raven settled with the simplest explanation he could phrase.

"I smelled an Omega. I fucked things up." He crossed his arms and settled against the cushions. "And I threw up. Things weren't pretty."

He then remembered that he still had not showered since the altercation. He scrunched his nose in distaste, and shook his head to get rid of the thought; he could clean every nook and cranny of his body when his friend left.

Hanji hummed softly. "Did you feel— No." She took a breath and looked at him in the eyes. "Do you feel like alcohol could make you feel better?"

Levi stared at her serious face — an unusual sight, biting the inside of his cheek.

"I did, in my car, when I called you. Not anymore. I know the shit that comes with me drinking once." He shrugged before taking back his glass. "It was just a really shitty bad day."

"Levi." Her voice felt strangely authoritative. "You had incidents with Omegas before, quite often if I may add, but you never really felt that bad before."

The raven shrugged, trying to pass what he was about to say as irrelevant.

"I don't know... I feel like it's getting worse."

He focused on his neat fingernails, faking a strong interest in his healthy cuticles while the brunette processed the information.

"How..." She felt a bit uncertain when speaking, as if she was slightly scared by his answer. "How is it worsening ?"

"It was only a whiff of Omega scent and... I barfed like crazy. It never really happened before." He sighed. "Sure, I was sick when in the same room as Omegas before, but their scent was more potent than today and..." The raven exhaled loudly, beginning to feel annoyed at himself for struggling with his words. "Today, I lost it the moment I recognized the scent. I didn't have the time to pull my mask up and..." He winced at the memory of bile climbing up his throat.

Hanji stayed silent and motionless for a handful of minutes, while the man took this time to consider his possibilities. He could not continue living this way, it was exhausting and made him feel like shit. But, to be totally honest, what other options did he have? Staying at home was a definite no. Living with his mask on constantly would be deadly suffocating.

"Levi, I know that you have a very sensitive nose..."

"No shit."

Hanji smiled softly, knowing that Levi by nature could not keep his scorn to himself. "But I'm also aware that your Omegas intolerance is more of a psychological issue than anything."

Levi scoffed and turned his face away from the woman's gaze.

"If you would just let me help you as a certified psych—"

" _Fuck_ , Shitty Glasses, we already talked about that." The raven snapped. "I'm fine, totally okay, in my head at least. I do not need your help. I keep away for the Omegas, I have an excellent brand of very expensive masks and every-fucking-thing is mother fucking okay!"

"But—"

A glare was enough to silence her. There would be no discussion on the matter.

She settled back on the pillows with her empty glass squeezed against her chest.

"Maybe you feel too much of an Alpha."

"Maybe because I fucking am one."

Hanji rolled her eyes.

"No, I mean..." She briefly looked at him and saw him frowning and ready to cut her off if she tried the psychiatrist card again. "Just listen to me. You have an issue with domination." Levi rubbed his forehead, preparing himself for the headache that was coming but let her continue. "You just don't want to dominate, I don't know why, I'm sure you do and I sure I would too if you agreed to—" The glaring he turned to Hanji had her raise her hands in surrender. "Okay, that's up to you. But my point is... You can't tolerate Omegas because of the feral instincts that scream at you to bend them over any plane surface and breed them." The woman scrunched her nose at the image that popped in her head. "And you strongly reject this… From what you told me, you like to be the one bent over and dominated." She finished with a smug grin.

The raven grumbled at the memory of him revealing his sexual preferences to the demon he dared call a friend. He did not want to dwell on it.

"And so? Your solution?"

Hanji smiled widened as she leaned over to whisper.

"You _need_ to get laid."

"What the _fuck_?"

"I'm not saying it's a viable solution on the long term, but maybe it would make you feel a bit better."

Levi stared at Hanji in disbelief.

The woman sighed and tried to explain. "I mean, you could at least try... It may help you feel better with Omegas and lessen the impression that your issue is worsening... You know, by being the one dominated… What could go wrong? I'm pretty sure you enjoy getting laid!"

The raven fell silent. He did not want to consider the utter nonsense his friend was spouting as a serious solution to his issue, but he could not help to think about it for a split second. Not for much longer, as Hanji was already intruding his privacy – more than she already was – by bringing her face too close to him, looking for any light in his eyes that would hint her on his decision.

Levi shoved her away — not as hard as he would with anyone else — and stood up.

"My sexual life really doesn't concern you, Shitty Glasses."

And he walked to the kitchen to refill his glass of lemonade, cutting their conversation short before Hanji could really begin to annoy him.

He tried not to mull over the suggestion, and did his best to shove the ideas that popped in his mind throughout the evening, shoving Hanji out of the door and deliberately going to bed earlier than he had in a long time to keep his brain for supplying him with disastrous possibilities.

* * *

The morning came and Levi frowned. As usual.

He enjoyed his work, most of the time. Sure, it was a pain to deal with shitty actresses thinking they were the new Marilyn Monroe and big bulky Alpha looking down on him and on his work, but he liked the glorious feeling of being busy and was satisfied to see himself so prolific. Erwin sure was glad to have given this job to him.

But there were mornings where he could not help but groan at the thought of setting a foot out of bed. Not that he was sleepy, but he simply loved the feeling of the toasty sheets around him and the neutral scent of his room. Particularly in contrast of the day that was waiting for him.

Levi was adamant about a few things in his life, and cleaning after his own shit was one of them. He had to make a few call, apologize a whole lot to keep their relationship with Dok's company on favorable terms and maybe pay for one or two hospital bills — he was not so sure.

Rubbing energetically his face, he jumped out of bed without looking back and strode to the bathroom to get started. Procrastinating on shit was never a good idea.

At the end of the day, Levi felt like he had mentally swum in sewers water. He had apologized formally to a shit ton of people — some he did not really know why — until his mouth was dry and sandy. He felt exhausted, cursing the whole lot of ass-kissing Erwin had him do to make up for his behavior. It was humiliating and both his temper and his instincts were seething at the submissive position he had been in.

Curious how he did not mind being in a very submissive position during sex.

The raven chuckled in the silence of his office, before groaning at the pain that ran down his spine with the movement of his chest. His shoulders felt stiff from the apologetic stance he had kept all day to meet people at their partner company and the little bows he had forced on his nape. His nostrils burned from the scent-canceler he had applied here throughout the day, as nobody seemed to believe that he could be sorry with a mask on. The lotion he had applied on his upper-lip was not meant to be used so much and the chemicals had left his skin raw and itchy. He would have loved to keep his usual protection against the world if he did not get the stink eye so often during such meetings. 

What a bunch of fucking morons.

Now, Levi only had one person to formally apologize to: the damn Omega at the root of all this shit. Maybe he was the only person the raven really felt sorry for: he had not asked for any of this crap and had been thoroughly insulted by a man he did not know. Besides, Ackerman was almost certain that he was an intern. God, he really did feel sorry. And he had no idea how to ask for forgiveness as he was sure the same situation would occur again if he was in the same room as the pitiful boy.

Maybe he could ask Petra for his personal phone number and send him a text...

Lame. And cowardly.

Levi sighed and asked Petra for a cup of tea through his desk phone. When his office door opened and the Bêta set his cup in front of him, the raven straightened himself and almost whispered.

"Petra..."

The strawberry blonde tilted her head to one side, fluffy hair spreading on her shoulder in a soft wave.

"How would you apologize to an Omega you have seriously wronged without meeting them face to face?"

An unusual smirk tugged at Petra's mouth, an expression quickly erased under the glare of her superior.

"Well... If any other Alpha asked me that, I would answer to send flowers. But it's about Dok's intern, isn't it?"

So he really was an intern. Poor thing.

Taking his silence for an affirmation, Petra carried on. "Maybe you could call him and eventually schedule a meeting in an open space to apologize about the certain trauma the boy will suffer from..." The Bêta seemed to lack words that would not upset her superior. "Your Omega-induced fury." The glower on the raven's face informed her she had failed.

"What if he doesn't want to see me?"

"Then you'll be doing him a favor by staying far away from him." Levi furrowed his brows. "I'll find you his number."

"Thank you, Petra." As she was about to walk away, he added. "Don’t talk to this about anyone… And I mean anyone. I don’t want an idiot to pressure the Omega in a meeting he doesn’t want.” He sighed. “That’s a thing Auruo could do."

The woman smiled softly and nodded before leaving.

* * *

The rest of the week was painfully slow. There were more insistent stares boring in Levi's back and, by Friday he could not walk by a room without leaving a buzz of gossips in his wake. Secretaries sure had too much time in their company.

More often than not the Alpha was tempted to say something, but to clearly express his anger he would have to pull his mask down and he knew for sure that most of the gossipers were Omegas. He did not want to give them another reason to slack off.

And that was ticking him off. Levi was not this kind of compliant person; he tried to be honest and fair, to do his job correctly and push his subordinates to their very best. He did not suppress his anger when he felt it was warranted, but here he was, containing his desire to bark at loafers because he was concerned about a potential humiliation, another sign of his weakness.

Maybe Hanji was right. Maybe he needed to get his mind off things. _Maybe he needed to get laid_.


	2. Adonis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coffee, smiles, a bit of shouting and a cup of tea.

Since the beginning of her pregnancy, Kuchel Ackerman had spent every morning immersed in the daily newspapers, practicing her reading skills. The paper boy living upstairs always made sure to drop some of the unsold on her doormat every evening.

Curled up at the end of her bed, she laboriously deciphered letters at the light of a flickering bulb, in the windowless basement she was renting.

When her belly had begun to show, and the eighteen year old had understood what was happening to her, she felt the need to ground herself onto something bigger; reading press articles made her feel like she belonged to the big world described between her hands.

She had taken to reading aloud to her swollen stomach and found with wonder that her voice had her baby moving vigorously.

"Humanity is saved." Announced Kuchel to her belly with a small smile before continuing reading, trying to ignore the flickers of light. "Two centuries ago, Humanity almost reached its downfall with the sudden drop in fertility created by the Disease. The Disease was a pandemic, only affecting woman, leading to a quick and almost certain death.

“Thankfully, a cure for the Disease was found, and then a vaccine. But this cure, although efficient, left women sterile."

The young woman rubbed her belly, a bit pained at the idea of a flat stomach caused by infertility. Not that she had wanted to be pregnant, but she already loved her child and the thought of not expecting made her physically uncomfortable.

"A big part of Humanity was lost, and the time that followed this tragedy was one of uncertainty. How could Humanity survive such a disaster? The answer arose many years later — four decades, to be exact — when a man became pregnant from sexual intercourse with another man. And suddenly, the World found out that a handful of men under thirty years old could get pregnant. It turned out that the vaccines given to the women to prevent the Disease had altered their genetics and some of their boys could bear children themselves. Those men were first called Hermaphrodites and were the hope of Humanity. With mutation and evolution, these Hermaphrodites found alter-egos, men with highly fertile semen, bringing us where we are today: Omegas are not only men, but also women and Alphas have the duty to breed them.” 

“But things may change. Humanity is officially out of danger; we have finally reached the number of human beings living before the first hit of the Disease. The work of our ancestors as paid: Alphas protecting the lives of the Omegas they cherish and getting them pregnant at all cost could soon become a thing of the past."

Kuchel hummed as she reached the end of the paper.

"Did you hear that, baby? You're secondary-gender won't define you. Not anymore. You'll be free. You'll love whoever you want. You'll do whatever you want."

She let herself smile at this idea.

* * *

  
  


Monday came with an awfully bright morning and Levi feeling tired. And if a particular blinding star burning its way through the sky was a common occurrence, the Alpha being sleep deprived was not.

He never needed to sleep or felt remotely drowsy, but weirdly enough, the last few days had weighed on him more than he cared to admit. And he knew Petra would not miss on the little yawns that tried to creep up his jaws.

He needed strong caffeine. Actually, he needed a torrent of caffeine. But he could settle for a cup or two.

While going out of his house, he decided to walk to his workplace rather than take his car so he could stop on the way and purchase a decently brewed cup of coffee to one of the shop flanked at either side of the roads. He knew he could ask Petra for a proper drink, but again, the Bêta would probably worry herself too much for a man who was hardly friendly with her. Levi never drank coffee, except when he was feeling unusually listless.

He had spent most of his weekend trying to break free from Hanji's constant bugging when he was trying to work — because, yes, weekends, just as leaving on time, meant nothing to Levi Ackerman. He still had contracts to prepare, script to read and shit to manage, those responsibilities never disappeared and the raven did not know why he had to ignore them two days every week.

The brunette had wanted to simply hang out with him and eventually a few of their other friends but Levi had things to do and had told her to "fuck off" a dozen of times before finally switching off is phone. Needless to say, she had been at his doorstep the following day, arms full of food and welcoming in the herd of weirdos they called friends. Levi should have guessed.

He had spent his Sunday trying to enjoy the company, but mostly struggled with keeping his hands away from the knives and Hanji. Sure, having people he got along with most of the time was nice, but Levi did not like the impulsiveness which brought them all here. And by the end of the day, he was exhausted.

So coffee sounded like such a good idea.

He passed by a few coffee shops, offering a disgusted face as he noticed an employee handling the baked goods with bare hands through the window of one of them.

At one point during his walk, he pulled his mask down to breathe in the air as he was alone on the sidewalk, and immediately regretted it when he picked up a waft of Omega scent. He turned around, sniffing more vigorously than what he intended and met the gaze of a young woman who stopped dead in her track. Levi immediately set his mask back on his nose as he took sight of the Omega and felt an embarrassed blush warming his throat and ears. She stepped aside to give him a wide berth and passed by him with hurried steps. He cleared his throat and went back on his way, making sure to keep enough distance between him and the girl – he was not keen on appearing as an awful pervert.

Shoulders hunched, it took him a little while to remember why he was out and he looked around to get his bearings.

After a few minutes of consideration, he finally decided to buy his coffee in a shop that seemed hygienic enough to brew him a cup without giving Levi the cholera. Stepping inside, the Alpha sighed at the coolness of the place — it was a bright and warm morning.

The inside was as charming as the exterior; big windows provided a view of passerby rushing, trees bowing at the breeze and ordinary life sliding on the sidewalk. A couple of neatly arranged tables and chairs were occupied by book-absorbed people and high school students probably skipping class, all of that in pastel tones, giving to the place a warm and cozy feeling.

While shaking his head at the abundance of rose — misty rose and 'tickle me' rose if he believed his eyes — he made his way to the counter and raised his gaze to the barista.

"Hello!"

Big smile.

"What can I get you?"

Whirling green eyes filled with charming cheerfulness. Soft hair falling on his forehead. Firm muscles wrapping themselves around his arms. Clean-shaved jaw and sharp masculine features.

Levi did not have to pull his mask down to know: he was staring at an Alpha.

"Sir?"

And not any Alpha. His _I-would-like-you-to-fuck-me-in-the-backroom-quickly-before-work-or-whenever-really_ type of Alpha.

He cleared his throat, not feeling confident enough to talk without putting his thoughts in order.

"A strong ass coffee in a large cup," was his very refined answer. They were surely moving closer to the fucking, _bravo Levi_!

The smile faltered a little on the young man's face as he processed the information, before genuine amusement reached his eyes as he nodded, probably keeping himself from verbally responding to keep his chuckle quiet —Levi could see it in the tense tremor of his shoulder.

Customer services sure were a shitty thing and the kid was clever enough to keep his comments to himself —hell, Levi once had seen a mother of four bitching about the haircut of their waiter, deeming it unsuitable for the eyes of her brats, so he totally understood.

But, well, Levi was glad he could entertain. That was probably the only thing he was going to do to the green-eyed barista.

Not that he lacked ideas, he simply lacked means. How could such a handsome Alpha find him remotely attractive? He did not have a scent to help luring him into his bed, and even when he considered himself good-looking, half of his sharp features were hidden behind an awful blue mask. And the young man seemed too... _Conventional_ to be interested in an one-night stand with a male Alpha.

If same-gender relationships were mostly accepted by everyone, that was not the case of same-secondary-gender relationships. Especially between men. What was frowned upon was not just homosexuality (no, men could date for all the world cared, as long as one of them was an Omega), but the absence of eventual pregnancy. Omegas couples were not really tolerated either, as two Omegas dating were seen as egoistical, keeping an eventual Alpha mate without children.

Bullshit. Humanity was not at the brink of extinction anymore, they did not need that much babies. People should mind their own business. And maybe he could have easily flirt with the Alpha making his coffee.

The cute Alpha now giving him his cup with a splendid smile.

Ah. Levi guessed it was the last interaction he would ever have with the brunet.

The raven slowly reached out his hand, carefully taking his cup between his fingers before letting his thumb slide to skim golden knuckles, brief and ethereal. The forest of the barista's eyes widened for a second and his nostrils flared — the raven could not blame him for wanting assurance that he was indeed an Alpha, but Levi was then spinning around, money on the counter, already reinvigorated by his morning encounter, leaving a puzzled young man behind.

"Have a good day!" He heard as he had passed the threshold.

  


And a good day, he did not have.

When, over the weekend, he had looked at the poorly written resumés of the interns joining them this week, he had felt content at the absence of Ω on the crisp white paper and had, quite unprofessionally, left it at that — in is defense, Hanji had been an excruciating pain in the ass.

And so he was now in front of two anxious young persons, not having the slightest idea of their skills or acquired diploma. The taller of the two was an Alpha — Ackerman did not look at the paper to confirm it — the boy screamed of overconfidence, false bravery and very annoying conflicts to come. The raven almost clicked his tongue: Alpha instincts were a pest and Levi hardly ever contained his when butting head with his fellows. The other one was a Bêta —thank you— with a shaved head and big bulging eyes; as he had begun to tremble while Levi was not even saying anything, he just hoped the boy could make a good cup of tea; he was not expecting him to endure any heavier responsibility.

"Well, Kirstein and... Springer," said Levi glancing at the papers in his hand, "I'm Levi Ackerman, in charge of the team you're about to be part of." He lifted his gaze to the Alpha. "I won't bullshit you about your responsibilities here: you'll be doing menial job and hardly anything else. Maybe, if you're lucky and born under a fucking good star you'll be able to go out and roam movie studios with one of the idiots out there" he designated the desks huddled together in front of his office door with a movement of his head, "but don't get your hopes too high, you'll definitely hate your decision of coming here at the end of the day."

He saw the youth troubled for a second, before the dominant one tried to argue.

And here we go, up for a fucking trip to the stars.

"Sir, I believe we submitted our application here to—"

"Shit, Kirstein, did I fucking stutter?" asked the other Alpha, voice low, almost rumbling. "You're interns. You have no room to argue. I don't care who you are, from where you fucking came, but you'll be doing the shit jobs nobody wants without complaining because you're here on your own free will. Is that understood?"

"Sir—"

Levi pulled his mask down, knowing perfectly that the sharpness of his tone was terrifying put together with the apparent calm of his features. He was about to talk once more when an almost too familiar scent scraped at his throat, leaving him speechless as he tried to understand.

There was no Omega in the room.

He heard the shit-digger of an Alpha complain but did not quite processed what he said as he breathed in, nostrils flaring. Levi was sure as hell that he was not mistaking this: there was the awful stench of an Omega in his nose, not potent enough to make him sick but too intense to only be an employee passing by his open office door.

"Sir, are you okay?"

His eyes darted to the tallest intern — the other one stayed still and uncertain — and the answer he was looking for flashed in his head, putting an end to the laborious and tired spinning of the cogs in his brain.

"You're dating an Omega." Levi stated looking directly to the brown-eyed Alpha and pulling his mask up.

The man looked taken aback for a second and looked at his fellow intern for clues — or help? — before nodding as if nothing.

"Yes, sir. We've been dating for more than a—"

"I don't fucking want to know." The raven's tone was sharp and merciless as he slowly raised from his chair, pressing both of his palms on his desk, menacingly leaning forward as he hissed, "get the fuck out of my office Kirstein."

The young man blinked a few time before his gaze fluttered between Springer and the door, obviously lacking the understanding of what he did wrong.

"Now." Ackerman spat as the scent-marked idiot was still immobile.

Seemingly dumb-founded, Jean retreated to the door slowly, only averting his gaze when he passed the threshold.

"What about me, sir?" Asked Springer, without daring to lift his gaze from the spot he had found at his feet.

Levi sighed as he lifted his hands to massage his temple as his usual Omega-induced headache begun to sting.

"Get out, too. Just find Petra or someone for the rest."

Connie did not have to be asked twice before turning on his heels and heading to the door with stiff steps. At least, the boy followed orders quickly and efficiently, maybe Levi could make something out of him.

Meanwhile, he had a reeking office to air out – he was beginning to think that he should just keep everyone out of there – and clean before any other important crisis would require his skills.

Levi was reading a script proposal for one of the actress he was in charge of when a knock at the door interrupted his work. He hummed an attempted "come in" without taking his eyes of the document.

"Sir, we have an issue." Said Auruo, half hidden behind the door.

The raven groaned quietly and shifted his gaze to the Bêta, encouraging him to continue. The blond man gingerly took a step in the room and cleared his throat, straight as an arrow.

"It's about Marlene. The filming is getting behind schedule and at this rate she is going to miss her next appointments."

"And they can't fucking reschedule the filming to another date?"

The man shook his head.

"No, they're only authorized at the location for the day. They're shooting at the castle for the date scene."

Levi grunted. "And why are you telling me all that? I believe Marlene is Petra's direct responsibility."

Auruo fidgeted.

"Well, Petra is busy with the interns and..." His lips tightened in a fine line, "everyone else is outside on meetings."

"Except you and me."

He nodded.

"I called on set, but the director refused to talk to me."

Levi scoffed.

"Trust Aiblinger for being a dick. Well, I guess you expect me to go and kick some sense in their irresponsible brains?"

"I called a taxi so we could leave immediately," declared his subordinate proudly.

The raven raised an eyebrow while shutting his computer off.

"No, you're staying here and," he shuffled through the documents on his desk and extracted a thick stack of papers, "you find me a polite way to tell the director and scenarist of this shit that I don't want any of our actors in this garbage."

Auruo looked at the sheets with great disappointment before accepting them with careful hands, almost bowing his way out of the office.

Levi organized a few contracts he could go over in the taxi, slid them meticulously in his briefcase and took off without a second thought.

  
  


The set was buzzing with anxious murmurs when Levi set foot in the castle, looking for any hint of what was delaying the shooting.

He had to admit the scenery was breathtaking as he arrived on the patio. A large expanse of grass and shy flowers ran as far as the eye could see, interrupted here and there by large and imposing trees bathing in the mid-afternoon sun. It surely was the perfect setting for a romantic comedy.

Levi narrowed his eyes and scanned the area looking for a familiar face that could give him answers. He found the gaze of a recognizable woman; her eyes widened when she acknowledged who she was staring at and he saw the green-eyed woman pathetically fumble with her phone to hang up. The assistant director then hurried to meet him, climbing the stairs two by two to where he was standing.

"Mr. Ackerman!" she exhaled in haste. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to keep the main actress on schedule," he responded with a frown, "what's going on here, Ms.Langnar?"

"Please, call me Ilse."

Levi nodded but did not let the creases of his dissatisfied face smooth out. Ilse waited expectantly a handful of seconds for a similar request, but understanding it was not coming, blinked a few time before lowering her eyes to a tile at her feet.

"Well... We're having some issues with the lead actor."

The raven raised an interrogative eyebrow.

"He..." Ilse seemed very uncomfortable under the intense gaze of the Alpha, even with half his face hidden. "He refuses to act the kiss scene."

Levi furrowed his brows, looking for the gaze of the black-haired woman —it really was not that difficult, they were the exact same height.

"And why the fuck would he do that?"

Ilse entwined her fingers together, peering through her eyelash to the seething figure in front of her. She knew the reason was not going to calm him down and the assistant director was not sure if she wanted to deal with the consequences of her revelation.

"He refuses to kiss anyone without eating a very particular brand of candies beforehand." She pushed in a breath. "He says his actor's magic doesn't work if he doesn't."

The crease between Levi's eyebrows vanished, but the woman knew better than to believe the apparent calm of his features. She watched the light blue of his pupils turn into an icy grey as his eyelids narrowed in a slit. As a Bêta, Ilse had a hard time distinguishing scents but she could swear the agent's had begun to slightly sting at her nose.

"Where is the shitbag?" His voice was a low rumble from the back of his throat, and Ilse immediately felt the urge to run away from him. Danger was seeping from all his pores and his patience was wearing thin.

Almost without being conscious of it, the woman pointed at a direction behind her and got out of his was before he had to push her aside.

Levi was fuming. He did not have to take his mask off to know the kind of scent he was exuding —a biting mix of acrid oranges and tart lemons he had learned to control but seemed unquestionable right now.

He stomped his way to the actor's tent where people were swarming, jaws clenched and murderous gaze deterring anyone who would try to stop him.

As people picked up his scent, they disappeared to the other side of the set, finding great interest in the grass that grew here. Easily recognizable by his mask-covered face, height and dark hair _and_ glare, Levi was known as a terrifying agent when things went wrong — _oh, someone, help the poor soul on the receiving side of his fury_. And things were very wrong right now.

The stinging smell of citrus fruits wafted to the staff talking to the movie star when the raven let himself under the waterproof roof and they scrambled away before fully understanding what they were sawing.

Levi looked completely terrifying. His physical appearance had not known any change —his hair were still combed out of his face, and his button-up had stayed wrinkle-free for the entirety of his day— but the intensity of his glower and his stance —shoulder pushed forward, arms tensed against his side, fist clenched— were utterly frightening.

The lead actor did not have the time to do anything —no scream, no attempt to flee, no dueling glare— except shriek as Levi had firmly seized the front of his bathrobe and pulled him out of his chair. The man almost went limp in his fists, his legs shaking as his instincts flew out of his brain when the acrid scent of dominance left him totally submissive. Yes, he was an Alpha, but he also knew the battles he would win, and this small dominant was not giving him any chance.

"Listen to me little diva," the raven spat, tone even and eyes glistening with danger, "I don't fucking care about who you are and what kind of shit you need to eat in order to do your fucking job. The world doesn't revolve around your narcissistic little ass, people have things to do, places to be." He took a sharp breathe," Don't make me angrier that I already am and actually do the thing you are paid for. Continue your little tantrum over some shitty candy canes and I will stop caring about your physical well-being." His hands freed the frozen man and he stumbled back in his chair, almost tripping over it. "And I'm not even talking about the breach of contract you made when you decided to be a fucking three-years-old."

The actor tried to say something but only whimpered when Levi pulled down his mask to say, "I give you five fucking minutes to get your ass moving and ready for the rest of the shooting. I'll personally come get you if you're still in here after that. Don't even think of running away."

He swiftly turned on his heels, make-up artists and enamored cameramen already surrounding the victim of his fury, offering comfort and badmouthing him in whispers.

Ah, where was going his spotless reputation lately?

Levi had to suppress a scoff at the thought, conscious of the eyes lingering on him now that he had expressed his anger.

He sighed instead and scanned the garden to find Marlene, the actress promoted by their company, sat on a bench looking profoundly bored and defeated.

An hour and a few piercing glares later, the very same Marlene was now seated in the back of the taxi that took Levi to the movie location, on her way to follow through with her schedule. The man was pretty sure this ride alone was making a dent in the company allowed travel budget, but Erwin was the one who paid and Levi did not find in himself the strength to care.

He had rolled the windows down to not suffocate Marlene with the pungent remains of his anger, knowing that the Bêta already felt intimidated in his presence when he was not threatening movie stars. The raven had tried to erase the scent with wet wipes rubbed on his scent glands, but the smell remained rather strongly on his shirt and only a combination of laundry and shower would dissipate the fury he had felt.

The day had been crappy. _Again_. Levi was exhausted, but at least, he did not feel the urge to burn his throat with cool amber and silence his self-deprecating thoughts in alcohol-induced drowsiness.

Maybe he could make himself a good cup of tea before going to bed.

An idea bounced to the front of his mind and he spoke before he could contain his words.

"Marlene, do you want a cup of coffee?"

The woman looked up at him, a bit startled by his sudden question. It almost seemed to her that Levi was a bit enthusiastic in his tone –she would never voice it, though.

"Hum... Are we not late?"

Levi almost scoffed, but stopped himself, certain that he did not want Marlene more upset that she already was for her oncoming interview.

"Yes, we are. But I already informed them that we would. So, coffee?"

Marlene nodded slowly before turning her attention back to her open window and to the sidewalks.

Levi leaned forward and gave a few directions to their driver. The short stop only necessitated a small detour and Levi decided that they could afford to add five minutes to their tardiness.

The Alpha finally felt like he had found a way to improve his awfully long day; he felt a quiet serenity curl up against his stomach.

The taxi stopped exactly when the raven ordered it, in front of the coffee shop he stepped in earlier in the day. He glided off his seat and told to the man behind the wheel to wait for him here. He then strode to the café, eventually noticing the name of the shop overhanging the glassy door — _Carla's_ it said.

He pushed the door open, a bit upset at not being able to pull his mask down to enjoy the rich flavors of freshly brewed coffee and soft tea leaves, and cautiously walked to the counter. The counter which was empty of smiles and brilliant eyes.

Levi could not help deception from seeping in his rib cage, and his face fell into a frown behind the blue fabric.

Instead of the very attractive Alpha he had met this morning stood a woman, probably taller than he was, with golden eyes simmering with warmth.

"Good evening," she said gently, "how can I help you?"

A voice spoke at the back of his mind: _Omega_ , it spat viciously. Levi ignored it; he would not get any answer without taking his mask off and he was not _this curious_.

Instead of dwelling on the thought of the barista's secondary gender, he ordered an overly sweet drink —not too caffeinated— for the actress and a cup of tea for himself. After paying and retrieving their drinks, the woman wished him a good evening, to which he responded with a nod.

When he made he back to his seat, he wordlessly gave her drink to Marlene and she accepted it just as silently. She did not ask anything about his apparent scowl or how his mood had so quickly turned sour, and quietly sipped on her latte.

She knew – everybody knew – sometimes, Levi could be weird. And she was not feeling confident enough to investigate.

  



	3. Hg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm awake, I'm awake, I'm awake,  
> Oh, hey there, you trying to sleep, that's nice for you, don't really work for me,  
> I'm trying to see how many decibels I can reach,  
> While I make a slice of toast and a cup of tea,  
> And no, it doesn't make a difference if it's early,  
> I'm awake so will you please do me the courtesy,  
> I'll be singing in the kitchen, trying to figure out the lyrics to some fucking shit song from the '30s,  
> I'll make some tea whilst my alarm goes off nineteen times,  
> I'll learn to jungle in the kitchen using fucking knives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> French toasts are supposed to be made from stale bread, stop being fancy America. Also, coffee is better enjoyed in a big ass cup.

Eren loved weekends. Weekends meant going back to his family home, rolling around aimlessly in his bed, his mom's cooking and the warm smiles of his silent father. Weekends also meant Mikasa and the silly times they spent watching bad soap operas and giggling.  
  
But before everything, Saturday mornings meant hangover and awkwardness at the kitchen table.  
  
Eren was shaken out of his peaceful slumber by the too habitual crash of a frying pan on the floor. His mother, adorable and thoughtful person, was the clumsiest person he ever met. The crash was followed by the jingling of cutlery being moved.  
  
The young man sighed; he could not realistically sleep for too long when his mother was making such an incredible racket in the kitchen — really, it sounded like it was just outside his bedroom door. The light filtering under his curtains showed him that it was too early for him to be up, but the noise was not dying down and the brunet knew he was too aware of his surroundings to try going back to sleep.  
  
He kicked his blanket of him with an irritated motion to sit down, and instantaneously regretted it. His head was spinning, his brain trying to spiral out of his skull and a dull pain spreading above his nape. He let his body fall back in his pillow, limp and already tired.

Eren took a second to feel how bad it was to be alive this morning. He felt exhausted and a persistent headache promised to make his day a terrible nightmare, but thankfully, no nausea tickled the back of his throat.  
  
He felt around his bedside table and his knuckle reached the smooth texture of glass. He hummed in relief and thanked Drunk Eren for being this thoughtful while taking it and gulping the water down. A wet trail skied down his chin, the brunet wiped it with the back of his hand.  
  
He carefully tried to get up again, checking that he was not about to topple down his bed – from the usual sprains and bruises from a night out drinking – and placed attentive feet to the wooden floor. Finally standing, Eren went downstairs with fragile steps and greeted his mother with a tired smile.  
  
"Hi sweetheart." He rounded the kitchen table and joined his mother behind the stove to give her a peck on the temple. Carla lifted her golden eyes to his face and frowned a little. "You look a bit tired." Eren smiled at the understatement — he did not have to look into a mirror to know that he looked ready for a trip to the morgue. "Did you come home late yesterday?"  
  
Eren shrugged before sitting down, rubbing his eyes in hope to make the morning light more bearable.  
  
"More like this morning? I hung out with the guys at Marco's after work."  
  
"What are you doing up so early?" asked Carla, turning her head to look at him. The brunet pointed to the clutter of forks and knife on the counter top at her right. She followed his finger and a sheepish smile adorned her features when she realized. "I'm sorry," she exhaled before going back to her cooking.  
  
"It's okay, I'll probably nap in the afternoon," he explained. "I'm kinda used to it," he added with a playful tone and did not have to see his mother's face to know that a smile had blossomed there.  
  
"Breakfast is almost ready. Can you fetch your father?" He was about to stand up and shout to relay the information through the door, when his mom continued, " _quietly_. Mikasa is still sleeping. Don't wake her up."  
  
Eren cringed at the idea of a sleep-deprived Mikasa and padded to his father's study. He knocked once and let his head in the room.  
  
"Dad," Grisha raised his gaze to his son, "breakfast is ready."  
  
The man smiled and stood up to meet him at the door. They walked to the kitchen in comfortable silence, and Grisha only spoke once they were all seated behind plates of French toasts.  
  
"So, how was your week Eren?"  
  
The brunet grinned around a mouthful of sweetened bread. The sugar and the cup of coffee provided by his mother were doing wonders to his mild hangover.  
  
"Good. I had a shooting on Tuesday for a small shop not so far from here and spent the rest of the week on shifts at the bar. And helping mom at the café, _obviously_."  
  
"Well, you're living right above and you make a better coffee that any of the part-timers I could hire."  
  
Eren took the time to swallow before retorting.  
  
"I'm sure that it's not very legal. You're not even paying me!"  
  
Carla shrugged with a smile.  
  
"Yes, but you're fed and warm all year long in your own little apartment."  
  
Eren could not say anything to that. He did not want to, honestly. He was grateful to his parents for paying most of his expenses and supplying him with his own studio. He simply smiled at his fork and dug in the remain of his meal.

Eren was lounging in front of the TV when Mikasa got out of her room for breakfast. He heard the shuffle of her steps as she entered the living room yawning and stretching, brutally stopped in her motion as soon as black met green.

"Hi," she let out with a bit of hesitation in her voice, lowering her arms in the same time.

"Hey," answered Eren with a shy smile.

God, that was awkward.

The previous week-end had Eren drunk and horny, a deadly combination, especially when he was going out with his sister and a part of their friends.

Mikasa had found him grinding enthusiastically against an unknown man's crotch.

Eren did not picture coming out this way; he had never blushed so hard than when he met his sister's gaze on the dance floor. Thankfully, the woman was the only one from his group of friends to witness his debauchery. They were dropped off to their parents' house and the brunet whispered a pitiful "yes, I'm gay," right before closing the door to his room, without giving time for Mikasa to answer.

The morning after had been one he would rather forget; full of mortified stares on his side and suppressed chuckles from the woman. And the interrogative gaze of their mother.

Mikasa was okay with it. That did not make Eren less embarrassed. He could not help but feel tension whenever they were in the same room.

The young man moved a little to give Mikasa a seat without forcing her to get squished between the armrest and his body, and they both poorly pretended to be really interested in the cartoons that were airing.

After an uneasy time of silence, Eren cleared his throat and tried to strike up a conversation over the screeching of the screen.

"Hum, you don't often sleep in... Do you have a hard time studying?"

He felt Mikasa turn to him and shifted to meet her eyes. Then, she slowly shook her head and exhaled in a whisper, "Yesterday... I was out late on a date."

Eren's eyes widened and he did his best at trying to suppress the hiccup which shook his whole chest. After failing, he did not held back the grin that split his face as he jumped closer to the woman.

"Holy shit Mikasa, who is he? Do I know him?" He almost screamed.

"Tone it down, would you?” She hissed, looking over her shoulder. “I told Mom I was hanging out with Armin until late."

Eren frowned.

"You're dating Armin? How did I miss that?"

Mikasa had a small smirk turning her lips up.

"No, big idiot, I'm not dating Armin. I'm dating Annie."

Shook ran on his face like a wave — eyes, nose, lips. He was at loss for words a solid minute in front of a nervous Mikasa, smirk turned into a fine line, teeth chewing the inside of her cheek.

"You... Oh. Damn, Mikasa, that's great! I didn't think Annie was... But, oh, wow."

The woman let her eyes fall to her intertwined fingers as a small relief lit her pupils up.

"Yeah, I'm surprised too... I never fought Annie would want to..." She sighed with a show of her perfectly lined-up teeth. "I never thought I would actually enjoy her company this much."

Eren giggled, bumping his shoulder with his sister's.

"You've got to help me here, I can't picture Annie on a date." He paused a second, before adding while laughing, "Hell, I can't picture Annie showing interest to anyone."

Mikasa viciously pinched the skin of his arm, making Eren squirm out of her grasp with a squeal.

"Be nice to my girlfriend, you idiot." A small smile was now curving her lips, softness taking over her usual sharp features. "She is really sweet."

Eren felt genuine happiness swell in his chest, the look of fondness on Mikasa’s face was beautiful.

“How long as it been?” He eventually asked.

“Something like a month and a half.” She admitted sheepishly.

The man did not speak for a little while, before softly saying, “Are you scared to tell Mom and Dad?”

He immediately felt guilt at the back of his throat when his sister’s face fell and her gaze wandered to the forgotten cartoon.

“Yeah. You know, we’re both Alphas, I… I don’t really know how they would feel about that. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Goddamit Mikasa, no! What the hell? That would be hypocritical of me!” He almost screamed, then lowered his voice under her glare. “No, I don’t care, you look so damn smitten right now! I’m sure they won’t mind either. And, I mean, you can still have kids, if you want. They have no reason to mind.”

The raven turned her eyes to her brother’s and smiled shyly. “Thanks.”

And silence fell naturally upon them. Eren absentmindedly turning back to the TV, basking in the joy of this familiarity.

"I'm happy for you Mikasa."

And he really was.

* * *

  
  
  
Jean grunted and fell face flat against the bar. Eren sighed as he grabbed a handful of coarse hair and pulled to lift him up.  
  
"What the hell, Jaeger?"  
  
"No grease on the counter, boss' rule."  
  
Jean stared at his friend in disbelief and Eren simply shrugged while cleaning the spot where the Alpha had been lying.  
  
"But Connie is doing the exact same thing." He announced, tone flat.  
  
"Yeah, but Connie doesn't have the hair for me to pull."  
  
They heard a snicker as said-Connie raised from his spot, lovingly rubbing his shaved head in a silent thank-you.  
  
"Sorry, Eren. We just had the worst day of our lives."  
  
The brunet simply hummed for them to continue as he slipped on the compassionate barman role he was used to wear every shift. The bar was rather empty: it was Monday evening and people were too tired from work or too hangover from their weekend to show up.  
  
Eren set down two rum-cokes in front of his friends before busying his hands with cutting a few lemons into even slices. Jean sighed heavily and began to talk. "So, you remember when we talked to you about the guy who insulted Marco at work?" The 'we' here referred to Jean and Marco, in a relationship that lasted despite the evident rudeness of the blond. Eren nodded, not lifting his eyes from his task, as the memories of Friday evening – before getting drunk – resurfaced to the front of his mind.  
  
"Yeah, the guy who trashed at everything when he saw Marco?"  
  
"Smelled." Clarified Connie, stooping over his glass.  
  
"Yeah, him. Well, thanks You-Almighty for my luck, because the guy just happen to be our boss."  
  
Eren glanced at him and stopped the movements of his knife, the other Alpha tense on his bar stool.  
  
"Wow. Tough. What did you do?"  
  
Jean exhaled and rubbed vigorously his face.  
  
"Nothing. I... I didn't thought it was him at first, but he smelled Marco on my skin, I suppose, and went all Godzilla on me." The reference earned him a snort from Connie and side-glance screaming 'no, he really didn't do that', but the smaller man did not interrupt further. "And I didn't even understand then. Petra, one of the team member, explained to us that he had kind of an Omega allergy and was kinda an ass to everything Omega-related. And then everything clicked in my head."  
  
He sighed and took a sip of his drink.  
  
"And I wanted to strangle him to death, rip him apart because... Fuck, Marco was such a mess when he got back home after the motherfucker had insulted literally everything about him. And, I don't know, Marco refused to tell me, but I'm pretty sure that the bastard used his pheromones to have Marco terrified and compliant and that's just... Sickening. I don't want to see him like that ever again."  
  
Eren totally stopped his cutting and leaned against the shelving unit behind him where were stored multiple liquors.  
  
"But what can I do? The guy is a fucking big shot in this world and I'm trying to work there. What would Marco say if I got fired because I threw a punch to the scary guy? What is he going to say when I tell him I'm working for the fucker who had him depressed for a good part of the week?"

Eren scratched his forehead, Jean hiding behind his hands, groaning at how fucked up his life had become in a week. Connie simply stared at his now empty glass.  
  
"You should talk with Marco when you get home. Think if you can afford to quit. Or if you can put up with the guy." Advised Eren as he refilled Connie, and earned himself a thankful nod. "Your angry ass shouldn't take any risk, though. I would quit if I were you, Horseface."  
  
Jean snorted and let his palms press on top of the counter.  
  
"Yeah, but you're not broke, you bastard. I have to work." He barked while glaring at the brunet. "And honestly, the pay is not too bad... but the job is shit."  
  
"Oh god, don't talk about it please." Whined Connie, "I can't feel my damn fingers anymore. They asked me to unhook staples all day long. Why not use staples removers? What the fuck? And, oh god, they asked me to make coffee. So many cups of coffee."  
  
Jean shook his head, eyes closed and mouth stilled in a fine line, he really did not seem to want to say any word about it.

Eren smirked. "Well Connie, you better work your ass off and help me find some very interesting modeling contracts."  
  
The blond Alpha raised an eyebrow.  
  
"You still haven't given up on being a model? I thought you would have faced reality by now."  
  
"For fuck's sake Horseface, I've _only_ been trying for a few months."  
  
"No, you've _already_ been trying for a few months." Jean bit back.  
  
"Neigh, neigh, neigh!" Replied the brunet, throwing his hands in the air, walking away when he saw the patron waiting at the other end of the bar.  
  
When he returned where he had left his friends, he only found a mildly tipsy Connie, drawing patterns on his empty glass. The Bêta offered him a lazy smile and a shrug to explain Jean's absence and Eren simply offered him another drink.  


* * *

  
  
Eren had knew better mornings. Not that it was really late in the day; a glance to the watch at his wrist revealed that it was barely 6 a.m, and he could not suppress the yawn that took over his face.  
  
His mother had woken him up with a panicked call an hour ago, urging him to open the coffee shop. Her car refused to start and she had no other options than to rely on his skills to greet the early morning regulars in need of caffeine.  
  
And here he was, standing behind the counter in an old sweater and a wrinkled apron, a cup of coffee he brewed for himself, hidden by the box of packs of sugar. Really, he did not want to care about anything but the sleep he was currently missing on.  
  
But the glass door was pushed open and he forced a smile on his lips to greet another customer.  
  
"Good morning." He let out softly, as the man made his way to him.  
  
Eren did not have any trouble recognizing the "strong ass coffee" man, mouth hidden behind a mask, short stature – that had him confused a minute on his dynamic – and piercing eyes boring into him. A small grin replaced his greeting face at the thought of his unusual order.  
  
"What can I get you today?"  
  
The man hesitated a second, furrowing his eyebrows.  
  
"The same as yesterday." He eventually asked for.  
  
"A strong ass coffee in a large cup, coming right away!" He said with more enthusiasm he thought he could muster so early. The barista thought he heard the man softly snort at that, but when he looked over his shoulder, he was playing with a strand of jet black hair falling on his forehead.

The younger one shrugged and set to work.

Eren could feel the eyes of the man on his back as the machine rumbled and coffee began to fill the paper cup. He did not look back at him, but felt a surge of self-consciousness, proceeding cautiously with every moves, his nape itching uncomfortably.

When the Alpha finally turned around and set down the order, he was immediately met with the melted mercury pooling in the other man's iris. And then his eyes fell lower, and he discovered with surprise a snub nose and fine lips parted around a "thank you" he barely heard.

He did not even realize that the man was leaving before he heard the door being opened and the cold spring breeze lapped at his cheeks. The brunet closed his eyes, the chiseled face, the sinful pink and the dizzying pale blue-grey drawn behind his eyelids.

Eren opened his mouth and let the lingering smell dancing around him fall on his tongue. He tasted citrus fruits and bubbling lemonade, and shuddered.

Damn, the stranger smelled good.

And Eren could not help but wonder how he would taste, mouth on his skin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a sucker for comments and my mind is a bitch telling me I'm writing shit. Also, Queen.


	4. Bittersweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi is a good guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your comments are lovely and give me room to breathe. I love them and I need to thank you for leaving them. You're awesome and beautiful.

Tuesday mornings were cathartic. Levi never accurately found other words to describe how good it felt to kick Erwin's ass during their weekly Muay Thai sparing sessions, finding a great satisfaction at keeping the giant on his toes whenever they stood in the ring.

Their early Tuesday meetings were at a gym close to Levi's apartment, which had allowed the Alpha to take a cup of coffee on his way and ogle the handsome barista who made decent drinks. And that only contributed to his pleasant mood.

"You seem to feel better today", said Erwin as they were heading to the showers. Trust Erwin to start conversations at the most awkward times and places. That was to say, when Levi was taking his boxer shorts off.

"Well yeah, it's not every day you get to make your boss bites the dust," answered the raven as he entered a shower stall.

Erwin let out a breathy laugh and Levi heard the water run on his right. "Well, don't expect me to do this too often, you hit pretty hard. You should find something else to improve your mood."

The smaller man rolled his eyes. "Hanji told you, didn't she? What she thought could appease my… Revulsion for Omegas."

The blond remained silent a handful of seconds, the time for the raven to find the right temperature for his shower. "Yeah" he ended up saying softly.

"So?"

"So what?"

Levi sighed exasperated and pushed his soaked bangs out of his face. "So, don't you have some adventurous Alpha friends you want to introduce to me?"

He did not have to steal a glance to the next stall to see Smith's perfect smile moving into a loud and heavy laugh.

* * *

Levi despised gossips. In his opinion, it was a waste of time and breath. But there was one moment in his week when the chitchat amused him and it was precisely when he was getting out of the elevator, standing next to Erwin, hair still damp with their showers.

He enjoyed seeing the employees bustling to reach one another and share their opinion on the pair. Levi knew that everyone was thinking they were dating — or fucking, depending on who you were talking to — and he liked to offend the less open-minded Bêtas by not denying it. Well, sure, denying it would be a blatant lie. They had had sex after all, _once_. But as it often happened between two Alphas screwing, the whole thing ended up in a literal battle for dominance — not the exciting type that left Levi's legs like jello — and too many scratches for the raven's taste. When Erwin had woke up the next morning — on the couch, mind you — with a black eye, they both agreed that it was a one time thing and that they would never ever think about it again.

That did not put a stop to their friendship. Hence the sparring session every week. And the enjoyment they both took from the murmuring open space, staring at them.

"Well," started Levi when they reached Erwin's office, "have a good day." He said and squeezed the giant's arm, where he knew he had landed a particularly hard hit earlier, mirth in his eyes.

The blond did not falter under the pain, but he burnt his way through Levi skull with his eyes as the man turned around to reach his team.

"Yes Levi, I will do just that." He responded a bit louder, the slight bitterness of his defeat sliding on his tongue and out of his mouth.

Erwin was aware of the offended stares which had blossomed from his friend gesture and offered a radiant smile at his audience before pushing the door and entering the calm of his personal space.

Same-secondary-gender relationships did not sit well with a lot of people and even if Erwin did not pursue the particular desire to be with an Alpha, he did not like the idea of it being forbidden to him. So, he enjoyed fooling everyone into thinking that Levi and him had been on a steady relationship for a while now.

He really did not have anything to do to be convincing, the gossips were terrifyingly efficient.

* * *

When Levi left his office to make his first pot of tea of the day, Petra called out to him and he immediately stopped in his tracks. He walked to her open space desk and waited for her to talk while checking that his mask was correctly covering his face.

"So, I have found Marco Bott's number," the Bêta told him simply, handing him a colored piece of paper.

Levi gingerly took the number in his hand and stared at it silently for a second. After a minute of Petra curiously looking at him, he thanked her and went back to his office without his beverage.

He closed the door behind him and slid into his chair, thumb stroking the bright yellow of the paper, his eyes running along the curves of Petra's handwriting.

The Alpha reached for his office landline, but decided against it when his fingers brushed the handset. He was going to call the personal number number of the Omega, it only seemed polite to return the favor.

He took his smartphone out of his attaché case and typed the number. The ringtones felt heavy in his ears and Levi realized he had been holding his breath when he heard a click on the other end of the phone.

"Hello?"

Levi exhaled through his nose and pulled his mask down.

"Yes, am I talking to Marco Bott?"

"Yes, that's me."

The raven took a sharp breathe before announcing, "Levi Ackerman speaking."

Silence weighed down Levi's nervousness as he waited for an answer. When the total noiselessness strained the last of the raven's nerves, he felt the visceral need to fill it with his uncertain words. "We had a... An altercation last week, when you came to Survey Corps Entertainment with Nile Dok." The Alpha drew a quick breath. "I would like to properly apologize for my outrageous behavior." He heard the other man breathing, but did not stop him from his tirade. "Would it be possible to meet? I would like to discuss whatever compensation seems fitting to you, face to face."

Levi closed his eyes as no answers came. God, he hoped the Omega would not be too fussy about the almost certain psychological trauma the Alpha gave him. He did not remember what happened with clarity, but he knew he had been harsh on the young man.

"I..." The small man sighed with relief as a word broke through the phone. "Would it be possible to meet in a public place?"

The raven internally winced at the thought; Levi was not really a fan of crowd and mixed scents, even with his mask on. His voice did not leak any of his distaste. "Absolutely. I understand perfectly that you may be worried in my presence. You are free to choose where you want us to meet. You may bring someone with you, if it eases your mind."

Levi knew enough about Omegas to know that a meeting with an Alpha was nerve-wracking, and he could not begin to imagine what the man could think of meeting him alone.

"Yes, I will, thank you. Hum... When would you like to meet?"

"Whenever makes you comfortable." He heard the man hesitate around a gasp at the other end of the phone call. "You can join me at this number when you make your decision. It's my personal number, I'm available most of the time. Take your time."

He only got a hum for an answer, and felt satisfied with just that; his shoulder had horribly tensed since the beginning of their conversation and Levi only had one idea: to end it and go back to the comfort of his workaholic life.

"Very well, Marco Bott, have a nice day."

He waited a few seconds for an answer but when he heard nothing but silence, he hung up and threw his phone on his desk, exhaling loudly as he sunk further into his chair.

He spent a good five minutes doing nothing but ease the anxiety born at the idea of meeting Marco Bott again, before remembering why he had been out of his office in the first time.

He sprung out of his seat and strode to the break-room. There, he met the gaze of Kirstein, the young intern, but did not even had the time to greet him: the Alpha had already leapt out of his chair and bolted out of the room with a very accusing glare. Levi stood still for a second, before shrugging and going at preparing a decent pot of tea to soothe his mind.

* * *

Marco Bott called him back later that day and they agreed to meet at seven in front of Sina, a bar owned by one of Levi's rare friends, Mike. The Omega had informed him he would bring his boyfriend and that one of his friend worked there; Levi had felt the first waves of annoyance rise in his throat at the idea of an over-protective Alpha but did not object.   
  
The raven had asked Erwin for a ride home to take a quick shower and drop off his sport bag, placing a fresh mask on his nose and a bottle of scent-blocking lotion in his blazer before taking off to their meeting place.   
  
Levi had a hard time finding a spot for his car, Sina being located in the busiest part of town, and ended up three minutes late. He took quick and urged steps toward the two figures waiting at the entrance and stopped suddenly as a too familiar gaze rose to his face.  
  
Jean Kirstein was standing next to a slightly taller brow-haired man, an arm tightly wrapped around his waist. Jean fucking Kirstein was Marco Bott's boyfriend.   
  
_Fuck._  
  
Levi took the last steps separating him from a certain pain in the ass and had a hard time keeping his hand from twitching when he raised it to the Omega. Thank fuck it was Mike's establishment and he put lot of money on decent scent-erasing soap, because he was sure that his lotion would not be enough.   
  
"Levi Ackerman."  
  
Marco detached himself from the blond man and shook his hand; Levi held his breath; his grasp felt weak around his knuckles and Levi could feel the slight tremor of his fingertips; he was scared and the older could not blame him.   
  
"Marco Bott."  
  
He then exchanged the same greeting with the intern and this time, the clasp was almost painful, fingers trembling for a very different reason. Ackerman did not make a comment.  
  
When the Alpha was finally free from any physical contact, he had trouble keeping his hand relaxed and still, feeling a visceral urge to douse his hand in lotion and clear it of any lingering scent.   
  
"Let's get in, shall we?" He tried, mostly to distract himself from the little bottle weighing his blazer down.  
  
He opened the door with his left hand and made a little motion with his arm to invite them inside.   
  
The inside of the bar was lit with tasteful lamps hanging from the ceiling, casting red and orange over the dark wood of the tables. A soft hum vibrated in the air, a slow paced song who was definitely helping with Levi's nerves, barely covering the murmur of the few patrons. Levi felt incredibly grateful at the Omega for choosing one of his favorite place in town, where he knew Mike could keep an eye on him.   
  
He strode to the bar where his giant friend stood, looking at him with a curious eye. The Alpha did not check behind him to see if the couple was following him, but was assured they were when Mike asked with a smile, "Hanging out with new friends?"  
  
"Work acquaintances," he corrected. "In a way."  
  
Mike nodded, "Sit wherever you like, I'm coming in a moment."  
  
Levi thanked him and turned to the pair, letting them choose a box away from the other patrons. Silence settled over their heads as they were waiting for Mike to come get their order, and Levi felt his shoulder tense under the gaze of the two men.   
  
Finally, Mike came to their table and attracted all of the unwanted attention. It was only after a glass of water was set down in front of him that Levi found the courage to say something.   
  
"So... Can we talk or are we waiting for someone else?"  
  
Dammit. He did not want it to sound so harsh. But Marco did not flinch and looked around before shaking his head. "No, it's okay, I don’t think our friend will be here soon."

Levi cleared his throat, preparing himself to the discomfort pooling in his gut. He took a long and wobbly breath, held it tightly in his lungs and reached to pull his mask down.   
  
"I am sorry."  
  
He saw the Omega tense significantly next to his boyfriend, but before panic could totally overwhelm him, Levi had put his protection back on his nose and released a sigh.   
  
"I cannot say much more without my mask off, but I really am sorry. I never meant to hurt you." Levi felt his shoulders loosen and pressed his back on the leather of his seat. "You must be aware of my..." He had a moment of consideration, unable to find words to describe his particularity. He tried for the safest and most polite way of wording it. "My _omegan_ pheromones intolerance."  
  
Marco nodded shyly, gaze on the table. Jean did not move one bit.   
  
"I have a very sensitive nose. Most than most Alpha, I mean." At the eyebrow Jean raised to express his doubt, Levi added, "I could probably smell what they are making for today's special appetizer in the kitchen from here." The Omega shot him a worried glance across the wood and Levi felt the urge to clarify for the poor thing, "but I won't, I wouldn't want any incident to happen."  
  
Levi crossed his arm on his chest.  
  
"I don't have anything against Omegas. I can't remember what I said to you, my memory of the moment is blurry, but I'm aware that I was unfair and cruel. I would like to properly apologize about that."  
  
The Alpha reached for the inside pocket of his blazer — ignored the bottle of lotion pressing against his side — and took out a card.  
  
"Here are the contact details of a very good psychiatrist. I would like to pay for your sessions if you were to see her. It won't erase the damage I have done to you, but I hope it will help you."  
  
Finally, Marco opened his mouth. "Thank you. Yes, I would like to."  
  
The raven nodded. "Very well. Let's now talk about indemnification. How much do you think would compensate the damage you received?"  
  
The taller man's eyes widened, going back and forth between his boyfriend and the other Alpha.  
  
"I... We..." His brows furrowed. "It's enough. You are already paying for the psychiatrist... More money would be... No, no, that's enough."  
  
Levi frowned but before he could tell anything, Jean was pressing a hand on his partner's shoulder, discontent painted on his face.  
  
"Marco!" He chastised in a low breath. The freckled man shook his head and looked straight into the pupils of the oldest.   
  
"The psychiatrist is enough for me. I don't want more of your money spent on me. I wasn't hurt that much." Jean's scowl deepened but he did not add anything. "Thank you for offering, but no, I won't take more of your money."  
  
Levi sighed. "Fine. If you ever change your mind, you have my number."  
  
Silence covered them, first innocent and light, but soon turned out loud and suffocating. The agent was about to say something to cut through the discomfort when a figure came, looming over the table.  
  
"Is everything alright?"  
  
Levi looked up and froze.   
  
_Sexy Barista_ was standing here, a concerned gaze directed to the pair on the other side of the table. He was clad in the formal attire that Mike required for his waiters and barmen, strands of soft hair falling into his electrifying eyes.   
  
"Yeah, Eren, don't worry. It's okay."  
  
_Eren_ was the friend working here. _Eren_ would not want to have anything to do with Levi after meeting his eyes. Eren would know what kind of bastard he was; the kind who made nice people cry.   
  
He had enjoyed his morning cups of coffee while it had lasted.   
  
When the forest finally glided to the ice of his orbs, he saw surprise ignite his pupils, as if he did not quite process who he was looking at. Then his expression morphed into something Levi could not precisely define. Deception? Disgust?

The Alpha lowered his eyes to the waiter's chin, reluctant to put a word on it, simply knowing that it would not be positive. He did not want to see anything _bad_ drawn into the features of such a handsome man.   
  
Instead of lingering on this state of mind and feeling like the Alpha standing was about to say something, he shared a look with Marco and simply said, "I'm leaving then. Have a nice evening. Your drinks tonight are on me."  
  
Without listening to the reactions of his statement, he stood up. He strode to the counter, paid Mike for all the drinks and asked him to put everything the kids would order on his tab. His friend barely grunted to express his acknowledgment and Levi left the bar without a glance.

Outside, he took a pause and lowered his mask to breathe in the chilly air of the evening, grateful that the sidewalk was empty of stinking people. He reached for his pocket and pulled out the lotion, putting out the fire that had burnt his hands during the discussion. He reveled in the disappearance of the slightly tingly smell that Marco had put on his skin, and felt satisfied with knowing that a simple whiff of his scent had not made him sick.

He nodded to himself and rubbed his hands together, ready to go home. But before he could take a single step toward his car, the door behind him opened and a hand fell on his shoulder.

"Excuse me!"

Levi tensed at the contact and spun around, already slapping the offending limb away. He did not even met the other's eyes that he was already growling, low and instinctive, "don't fucking touch me."

The other man recoiled, outraging hand raised in surrender, gaze falling to the ground to not trigger Levi's instincts further. Only then, the raven recognized the waiter; the vibrations died in his throat and his mouth fell open.

The Alpha smelled heavenly and the realization hit him like a truck. Levi had always been attracted to Alpha's scents, finding quite early that those musky notes in his nose spiked his arousal. But Eren felt totally different; he was a forest after rain, the soft murmur of nature waking up, the heady fragrance of wood and green moss. It was both calming and unnerving, making the entirety of his body stiffen.

"I didn't mean to startle you," admitted the younger, peeking tentatively to the raven through his eyelashes – an achievement, as the brunet was a tower of long limbs.

Levi sighed, but the action did not relax any of his contracted muscles. He waited for Eren to talk.

"You're Jean's boss, right?"

He wanted to roll his eyes but suppressed the motion just in time; he did not need to sink further into the disagreeable personage Eren was probably seeing him as.

Actually, he was not even sure he wanted to pull the man in his arms anymore; Hot Barista was a fantasy, a dream standing behind a counter, one that lightened his mood on the morning, nothing more. And certainly not a potential hook-up, even with the evident attraction to those bright eyes. Not now that Eren knew how fucked up he was. Levi did not pursue what he had no chance to have. Hot Barista could stay a fantasy and, with enough persuasion, Levi could convince himself that he had never wanted anything else from him.

Fantasies were better left in his head. Far less complicated, too.

"Yeah," he exhaled, pulling his mask back where he belonged, cutting off any pleasant scent of cedar and pine, squaring up his shoulders to face the accusations the man would probably hurl his way.

"Please, don't hurt Marco anymore. He doesn’t deserve it."

The raven raised an eyebrow in surprise and his hands found their way to the pockets of his pants. He had expected some kind of recrimination, not a soft-spoken request. He was not prepared for it, and found a flare of annoyance lighting up in his chest.

_Because he fucking enjoyed his fury when met with Omegas. Sure. Yay._

Eren was more dreamy in his head.

"I never intended to hurt him. I'm not such a sadist.” He said with a tinge of bitterness. He still felt the need to add, “I won’t." It sounded more genuine than Levi had planned and he was glad his mask was hiding his cringe.

The words Eren had prepared to let out died on his tongue and Levi saw him open and close his mouth repeatedly for at least ten good seconds. They sighed in unison, Levi because the genuine concern for his friend was making the Alpha loose his edge and want to go home and sleep, and Eren because, well, he was making a fool out of himself for no reason at all.

The brunet tried to say something, but his voice came out croaked and incomprehensible. He cleared his throat with a wet sound the oldest tried his hardest to ignore.

"Thanks," came out sounding shy.

Levi did not have the time to respond that Eren had spun around and disappeared inside his workplace.

He was surprised, to say the least. The raven did not think Eren could hear the sincerity in his voice and, when he had seen him standing here, Levi had been ready for a violent and rude exchange of insults to defend his friend's honor.

But he had remained calm and even surrendered to the raven despite his instincts.

Levi was not sure he would have been able to do the same if someone had hurt Erwin or Hanji. Now, maybe. But certainly not at the brunet’s age.

He was a bit impressed.

But mostly tired. So he did not dwell on it and made his way to his car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, leave a good lil' comment if you want to, I love them and it helps me to convince my fingers to type this monster of a story. (it's not that big objectively. Just, it's really, really long for me, I can't quite believe I already wrote all that and I'm still going.)


	5. Lucky (soon-to-be) Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren gets lucky. Eh.

Mike was a nice man, a man of few words and smiles, sure, but his simple presence had the power to lighten up the darkest mood. Which was one of the many reasons his bar was so popular with the over-stressed office workers coming after their day in the busy area.  
  
So Eren was not surprised in the least when a duo of men sat on the stools on his right and asked where the giant had hidden.  
  
"He's on his break right now. He will be back in ten, probably."  
  
"Probably?" The oldest asked, crow's feet creased with amusement.  
  
The Alpha shrugged. "Mike is the boss, it's his choice to make." He then let a smile stretch his lips, "what would you like to drink?"  
  
The oldest, all wrinkle and no hair, ordered a whiskey but grabbed Eren's hand when he tried to put the bottle away. He gasped and almost tried to punch the Bêta at the sudden contact but left the bottle on the bar after a few second of consideration under the insistent eyes of the man. The other patron simply smiled around his pint of beer, seemingly used to it.  
  
Eren took a moment and blinked slowly when soft blue eyes met his own; he took a split second to assess the man: tall figure, broad shoulders, blond hair, clean-shaved, handsome; and turned around before letting his gaze linger, the familiar excitation of meeting the glance of a beautiful person setting above his navel.  
  
The barman left them and tended to the exhausted men and women slumping on their stools; Eren could not help it but pity them on this Thursday evening, they still had another day to go before the weekend and the rest promised for their days-off.  
  
  
Eren came back to the two business men in crisp dark suits twenty minutes later, Mike still enjoying his break somewhere in the back. He refilled the blond man's pint and noted with a mix of awe and concern that his friend had emptied half of the bottle of liquor.  
  
The young man set himself with a towel and wet glasses near them, to keep an eye on the Bêta's consumption; escorting sick old men back to the door was a pain in the ass and Eren would rather not get to this point if he could control it.  
  
"A shame isn't it?" The Alpha lifted his head to the gravelly voice and his eyes fixed upon the wrinkly face of the oldest patron. His gaze was set on the television where the news colored the screen, silent mimes speaking behind microphones. "No one guesses how much of a diva she actually is."  
  
At that, Eren turned around, dull curiosity lifting itself from his navel to his chest. Hitch Dreyse was smiling at the journalist lifting a mic to her mouth, blond hair tucked behind her ear with a fluid movement of fingers. He had seen a bunch of her movies and fairly enjoyed her actress skills. She was good, even he could tell.  
  
"You know Hitch Dreyse?" The question was out before he could even think of holding it back. Blue and amber eyes fell to his face and Eren saw amusement in the oldest's features.  
  
"Sure, I do! I am her agent. Well, I was." He hiccuped. "Running an entertainment company keeps you busy, I had to pass the torch on to someone else."  
  
The brunet was frozen still, understanding washing over him and leaving him blank, white as a sheet and ready to be scribbled on with astonishment and red. Surprise did not keep him waiting and blush ran on his skin in a matter of seconds.  
  
"You're an agent?" His voice was strangled and uneven, but Eren did not hear it. He felt hope swell in his chest and his heart hammering in his throat. Hell, he knew that this man could very well not give him a chance, he did not even know if he would accept a model, but the Alpha wanted to try, he had spent weeks, _months_ , trying to attract an agency's attention, and if he could now, his career would take flight and he would never do anything else ever again.  
  
The blond was watching him with half a smile, seemingly decided to not interfere, his friend's time-creased face split in two by a large grin. "You seem happy to hear it..." Only when he was told that, Eren realized the painful smile which tore his lips apart. "I'm Dot Pyxis, from Garrison Entertainment." The man extended a hand and Eren took it with hesitation, feeling the delicate skin on his fingertips and muttering something hardly sounding like his own name. "Are you an actor wannabee? Do you want me to find you an audition?"  
  
The brunet felt his voice die before he could even utter a word. He chose to shake his head, palms sweaty as he tried to articulate the thoughts pressing to the front of his skull.  
  
"No, I... I want to be a model."  
  
Dot face wrinkled further as he sat back on his tool.  
  
"I'm sorry son, but I don't do models." The brunet felt his heart sink and crash against his stomach. "But maybe Erwin could. What do you think?" Turning to the blond man, silent since he set foot in the bar, his friend looked at him with mirth in his eyes. "I'm not an expert but I think this young man here could be a good addition to your company."  
  
Erwin stopped drawing idle patterns in the condensation of his glass and set a pair of inquisitive eyes on the young Alpha. Eren felt his clothes fade away, leaving him bare and weak, scrutinized by a gauging stare. He felt the man ponder on his potential as the electrifying blue slid on his limbs, making the brunet tense, straightening his stance and praying — to whoever would come to his rescue — that his hair had stayed obedient, nicely cascading on his forehead like he had styled it earlier in the day.  
  
"How old are you?" His tone was not as heavy than Eren expected.  
  
"I'm twenty-two, sir."  
  
The blond sat back in his tool, and nodded with what the Alpha hoped to be approval.  
  
After another prolonged look at his face, he reached for his breast pocket and pulled out a card holder.  
  
"Call me tomorrow over the course of the day. I would like to talk to you." He said, placing one of his card on the counter. Eren felt his heart trying to break through his rib cage, a certain blush bursting under the skin of his cheeks.  
  
He did not mind the red on his face, wrapping around his neck and falling to his collarbones, he did not mind how silly he looked with his skin hot and his smile white; Eren felt the first string of success under his fingertips and it was vertiginous.  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Eren was skipping, feet light, nose up to the sky. The evening temperature skimmed his cheeks, leaving his eyes teary as his cheerful steps gained in speed.  
  
His parent's house was closer with each of his powerful heartbeats and Eren barely contained the urge to barge in and scream the good news from the front door. Fingers slightly trembling, he succeeded at passing the threshold without a word, but could not stop his legs to bring him immediately to the living room, where he knew he would found someone to talk — scream — to.  
  
Luckily, his parents were there, sitting close to each other, books in hand. His father looked up from his heavy novel and smiled at his son, whereas is mother kept herself glued to the words, seemingly indifferent to the world around her.  
  
The brunet grin widened as he took the last steps to join his family on the couch, falling gracelessly against his mother's side, making her jolt.  
  
"I have something to tell you." He said, unable to reign back his elated beam.  
  
"And you have to crush your mother in the process? Because if it's the case, you're successful." Carla answered with a grimace, pressing herself to Grisha to get away from the squashing weight of their son.  
  
Eren blatantly ignored her, features stretched by delight for the last three hours and still counting.  
  
"I have an agent."  
  
A fleeting moment of silence fell on the living room, letting a precious second of reflection to his parents to process the news. Then, eyes lightening up, their faces rose with glee and Eren found himself covered by arms and laughter. Carla grabbed his face with both hands and pressed a loud kiss to his forehead.  
  
"Oh son, you did it! Tell me, how did it happen?"  
  
The brunet chuckled and took some distance from the embrace of his mother and the firm press of his father's hand on his shoulder.  
  
He begun his story at the previous night, words flowing quickly out of his mouth.  
  
"He asked me to call him this morning. I did. And... We met this afternoon with my portfolio, and it must have been satisfying enough because he asked to come to the office on Monday to meet with my potential agent and eventually prepare a contract." Eren explained, still joyous but nervously playing with the hem of his shirt. "And, I'm so nervous, it's really great, really, really great to know that... I don't know, modeling may work out? But... I don't know, what if they change their minds during the weekend?"  
  
His mother smiled softly and took his hand in hers.  
  
"Eren, honey, it's going to be alright... You are handsome, mostly courteous and determined. They're going to love you."  
  
His father nodded with a grin hidden in the crease of his eyes.  
  
"Your mother his right. And if it doesn't work... You'll find a way. We always find a way. It won't be the end."  
  
The Alpha let his head fall on the back of his couch and sighed.  
  
"I hope so."  
  
After a while, Eren heard the soft shuffle of pages turning, and let contentment wrap itself around his shoulders at the feeling of calm familiarity. Everything was going to be alright. He was not going to fuck this up. And if he did, he had his family to comfort him and feed him ice cream for a week.  
  
"Ah, when is Mikasa coming home? I want to tell her face to face." He suddenly asked, breaking the peaceful quietness.  
  
"Probably not tonight," Carla cheerfully informed him. "She said she was staying with Armin to study... They have been studying _a lot_ lately." The woman added with a chuckle. "Do you know something?"  
  
Hell yeah, Eren knew something.  
  
"No," he answered, looking away from her gossip-hungry stare.  
  
"Really?" She took a pause. "Armin is practically my son, she could tell us if anything happened between them. It would be so cute, my little Mikasa flustered." Grisha had a small laugh.  
  
Eren tried to swallow the lump in his throat, nervously playing with the loose tread of a cushion, it was not his decision to make to inform their parents of Mikasa dating life.  
  
"Yeah? I don't think there is anything between them. They must be doing some weird medical student bonding or something." Carla scoffed at her son. "Anyway, want me to cook diner?"  
  
Both his parents nodded and his mother added, "At least, you didn't go to cooking school for nothing," with a satisfied smile.  


* * *

  
  
  
It was only later that night, when Eren was alone, lounging on the couch in front of a Christmas movie (in April, of course), that he begun to thought of his parents' potential reaction to Annie's secondary gender.  
  
Same gender and dynamic relationships were mostly disapproved off, simply because two people from the same genders supposedly did not have a good sexual chemistry and would not produce an heir. Well, Alpha females could, so Mikasa could work her way around that to get blessing from Carla and Grisha, if she ever wanted to take things on a more serious level.  
  
But that would not be the case for Eren. Not that he had anyone in mind — seeking a relationship was not a priority right now — but the idea of being scared of introducing his beloved partner to his parents made his mouth taste of sand. The brunet had dated a few people in his life; an Omega in high school, two Bêtas during cooking school, relationships that he had absolutely hidden from his family: Eren was gay, and society expected him to mate a cute male Omega, and not look at any other dynamic.  
  
And the young man found this totally unfair. He wanted a choice. He wanted a relationship between equals, not between a dominant and a dominated. The Omega he had dated in high school had been determined to please him, but did not word any desire on his own. And the brunet had quickly felt the emptiness of what they had.  
  
Eren would not mind dating an Alpha. But it would be a lie if he did not admit that he would be scared shitless of his parents' reaction. The young man wanted his future partner to belong at his side, with his family, and not being seen as an anomaly.  
  
But before a relationship, Eren would not mind having sex with an Alpha, he was actually curious how the infamous lack of sexual chemistry would play between two of them. He was fairly certain that it was all bullshit.

The image of Horseface's boss came to the front of his mind; a man he would potentially work with if he signed a definite contract with the company. Mr Ackerman — according to Jean — was awfully attractive to the brunet, but despite his first impression of him being an eccentric and weirdly entertaining person on his coffee-mornings, the man turned out to be aggressive.  
  
Eren had briefly thought of flirting with the Alpha on his next visit to the coffee shop, but now that he knew the man from a different point of view, he was not sure to want anything to do with him. Mr Ackerman had been respectful during his apologies and had been almost nice — according to Marco, not his equine boyfriend — but those did not erase the distress the Omega had felt. Even if he had some weird and unusual condition.  
  
No, definitely, starting a relationship of any kind with this man was an awful idea. And that was a shame: he was the very first Alpha to show such blatant interest for Eren.  
  
If the brunet did not go to work on Tuesday and did not meet the Alpha as Marco's assailant, he would have let curiosity take the upper hand and would have given in to the raven's silent desires.  
  
The brunet sighed and tried to change the direction of his thoughts. He took a quick glance to the time on his phone: he was waiting for Mikasa to come home from her date. He had texted her earlier in the evening and she told him she would be here around midnight. It was half an hour away and the buzzing of Eren's excitement to announce her the good news had been replaced by drowsiness.  
  
His phone purred against his thigh.  
  
**Sis:**  
Sorry, actually I won't be coming home tonight.  
  
Eren smirked and replied with a quick text of acknowledgment before rising to his feet and turning the TV off. He then climbed the stairs to his room, where he set himself comfortably in his desk chair, laptop open and hands already reaching for his fly.  
  
Everything to have a restful sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoy being (lightly) harassed on Tumblr, so feel free to do that. Also, the comments I receive on this story help me a great deal, thank you very much for taking a moment to write them!
> 
> Honestly, honestly, Drarry rocks.


	6. Coffee in the Stable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its like the Drarry handshake but with gay feelings. (that's a lie)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am absolutely exhausted from a eleven hours flight and slightly cross-eyed, but some people wanted this and I thrive to please. Enjoy!

Levi was cranky. It was Monday morning, his week-end had been awful — again — and he needed a cup of coffee before drinking his usual two liters of tea.   
  
And he could not get a cup of coffee from his new favorite place.   
  
For once, Hanji was not at fault for ruining his mood; Erwin was. On Friday evening, the man had invited him to his house for a nice dinner with friends. Levi showed up on time and was introduced to a few Alpha acquaintances of the giant, whose satisfied smirk did not go unnoticed.   
  
Needless to say, the raven later went home with one of the guest.   
  
The sex had been frustrating and painfully gentle. The man had carefully lain Levi on his bed, kissing him with an unwelcome tenderness and taking him with slow and prudent thrusts. The raven had felt like an Omega, a little breakable being; he had hated the experience.   
  
If Levi wanted softness, he would seek Bêtas who were easier to come across. Levi wanted a bruising pressure on his hips, a name in his throat and nothing in his head. Levi wanted someone that could break him, tear him apart and leave him undone.   
  
So after the other Alpha had deemed himself satisfied and spent, he had tried to cuddle the raven and had seen himself out of the door in a matter of minutes.   
  
Levi had then made a tiramisu to distract himself from his sexual frustration, with the beautiful intention of eating it all for lunch. Baking had given him the opportunity to clean his kitchen from top to bottom and had left him totally satisfied.   
  
After trying to sleep without success, he had left his bed for his personal gym and lifted weight until morning.   
  
Erwin had showed up right before lunch to inquire about the last of his night. He devoured half of the Alpha's tiramisu before Levi could complain and had left behind a dozen of audition tapes for the agent to watch.   
  
Ackerman had spent the remaining of his week-end watching awfully filmed videos with barely a spoonful of his cake and lot of bitterness.   
  
Erwin would be properly murdered on the ring Tuesday morning. But first, _coffee_.   
  
Petra usually brewed the Monday morning coffee and Levi prayed with whatever faith he still had in him that he could save a cup of it from his sleep-deprived coworkers.   
  
Once in the break room – which was strangely calm, he fell face to face with Rico, Erwin's assistant, artfully displaying pastries on a plate and cups on a tray. Levi arched an eyebrow.  
  
"I didn't know there was a meeting this morning." And he certainly was not in the mood to bear with Erwin’s bullshit so early in the morning.  
  
The woman turned her head to greet him before explaining:  
  
"It's not a meeting,” Levi sighed in satisfaction, “Hannes is signing a new talent. Erwin did the scouting, though."  
  
The man arched an eyebrow; Erwin rarely scouted anyone anymore. He did not have enough time in his hands to do so, the person being signed must have been particularly impressive to caught the blond's eyes. Levi was curious why he had not heard anything from him yet, when they had spent a good part of the week-end together.   
  
"A model then?" Hannes was a model’s agent and he was honestly really good at his job, and even better when he was totally drunk. Which explained why Levi did not spend a lot of time in his company.   
  
Rico nodded.  
  
"Yes, a male Alpha." Levi hummed in acknowledgment and busied himself with pouring Petra's excellent coffee in his personal cup. He did not really have enough time on his own to worry about his boss' decisions.   
  
With a polite nod, he went back to his office.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Erwin stopped by his office right before lunch to inquire about the audition tapes. He let himself in without knocking and sat on the border of Levi's desk with too much natural to the raven's taste.   
  
"Found anyone interesting?"  
  
Levi raised his gaze to meet his superior's eyes, crossing his arms and leaning in his chair.  
  
"No. They're all shitty actors. If I dare call them that."  
  
Erwin sighed. "I didn't talk to you about it, but there is a rumor that Dimo Reeves is looking for a rookie for his next movie. Having one of our kids playing in that would be good for business." Levi rolled his eyes. "Well, we still have a lot of audition tapes, don't we?"  
  
The Alpha glared at him. He had had enough of blurry videos, badly-written dialogues and absurd plot twists for a lifetime.  
  
"No Erwin, you fucked my week-end up, you are not going to put this shit on me!"  
  
The blond furrowed his eyebrow at the sudden anger, but did not move from his spot.   
  
"Well, you usually enjoy being busy on your week-end. What did I do to make you like that?"  
  
Levi scoffed and shrugged, letting his eyes fall on his paperwork. He had an endless reasons to be mad at his friend; he had fucking wolfed down half of his tiramisu, introduced him to a jackass, drowned him into videos of incompetent wannabe actors, refused to give him his lasagna recipe.   
  
"Levi."  
  
"What?" He bit back.  
  
"When was your last rut?"  
  
The man felt his anger deflate like a balloon. Of course. His rut. It was his instincts talking, the need for dominance over the other Alpha that lit up his unjustified animosity.   
  
"Shit. Six months ago. I totally forgot." He raised his hands to his forehead, pressing here to try and alleviate the pressing urge for obedience from others.   
  
"Do you have your suppressants?"  
  
"Yeah." He sighed. "Sorry."  
  
"No harm done, don't worry. Take them and go out for lunch. Don't live only on tea." Erwin stood up. "Well, I've got to go, I wouldn't want to be late."  
  
Levi grunted something close to a "good bye" before looking in drawers for his suppressants.   
  
Now that he knew, he could feel the warm buzz spreading in his gut, numbing his senses and making him nauseous. He hated it. Every rut was a succession of awful and messy fights against his instincts, a whole week of contentious thoughts where he seriously pondered breeding any willing Omega.   
  
That was not what he wanted.   
  
He downed two tablets of his medication with the last of his cup of tea, put his blazer and mask on and decided to listen to Erwin.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Levi had forgotten that he could not eat out since Nanaba had decided to close her restaurant to travel the world and that was why he now skipped the meal altogether.   
  
He had to find something to eat, in less than half an hour, from a decent establishment and with no Omega too close to his food to spoil it with their scent. Piece of cake!  
  
Levi sighed heavily. Oh, how he wanted to skip lunch! But suppressants were a bitch and he was promised an amazing stomachache if he did not eat.  
  
Determined to make this quick, the Alpha crossed the street to a bakery recommended by Petra, where there were supposedly no Omega in the kitchen. Once again, he regretted having his mask on when he passed the threshold, unable to take in the wonderful smell of freshly baked bread and buttery pastries.   
  
The shop was nice, clean and bright. Different types of bread lined up the wall behind the counter and colorful delicacies shined on display.   
  
Levi walked to the man behind the cash register, and without any greetings, asked, "Are you an Omega?"  
  
The guy seemed puzzled at the question, looking at the Alpha with big surprised eyes. "No?" He finally said, with hesitation.   
  
"Good. I'll take your Special sandwich."  
  
He proceeded to pay and bid goodbye to the employee, when the bell of the door chimed and Levi was met with his favorite subordinate.  
  
Kirstein. And his good friend Eren. Great. That was just Levi's day.   
  
The two Alphas stopped straight at the entrance, eyes on the smaller man.   
  
For just a second, the Alpha was tempted to lower his mask and take in the mix of scents coming from the bakery goods and Eren's soothing one. But Jean was here and there was a good possibility of him being scent marked. He would love to avoid another unnecessary conflict.   
  
"Ah." Eloquent, Kirstein.   
  
"Good morning to you, too."  
  
Jean was silent for a second, before answering a clumsy, "ah, yes, good morning, sir." Levi wondered were all the confidence of their semi-private meeting went. When the raven's gaze met the intern's eyes and those shot to the floor in less time than it took to say "ah", he found the behavior strangely suspicious. Kirstein, despite being an average intern, was never so submissive with him.   
  
Eren was not any better, he was turned to the side, seemingly interested in the patterns on the wallpaper, hands wriggled together. As if Levi were not even here. How very frustrating.   
  
"Hum." The agent arched an eyebrow at the fidgety fingers of the blond man. "Are you okay, sir?" Levi looked at him without understanding. "You... You smell, hum..."  
  
Oh. Right, rut. That would explain how they careful avoided his gaze, they did not want to provoke him accidentally. The medicine had not taken effect yet.   
  
Levi held his breath to lift the bottom of his mask and brought his wrist to his nose. He took a sniff of the slightly oily skin here and grimaced. He smelled aggressive and upset. The perfect mood to instigate a duel for dominance.   
  
"I'm okay Kirstein, don't shit your pants."  
  
Jean kept his eyes stubbornly stuck to the floor. Levi sighed, feeling that nothing would ease the blond's tension but his absence.   
  
"Well, don't be late." He advised, sandwich in hand, feet already moving to get him out of the awkwardness.   
  
The duo did not respond and Levi made his way back to his office. He would eat in the neutral smell of his private room, before making a quick stop to the Alphas' restroom to try and wash away the sourness of his scent.   
  
If his hormones did not calm down a little, he would have to go home for the day to not interfere with his subordinates' work. Levi hoped his suppressants were still efficient, because if they were not, he would be in deep shit.   
  
Shit happened when a rut was not suppressed. Especially his, when he was unable to go near an Omega, but still craved the warmth of their skin. At time like this, his mind was tugged between the need to reproduce and the disgust of submitting an Omega. The contradictions had him crazy for days.   
  
Levi would have to make a medical appointment to ensure the effectiveness of his medicine and that he took the correct dosage for his body. The Alpha did not want to overdose again; the first time had been a terrible experience and had been almost traumatic.   
  
He was going to have a tough week.   
  


* * *

  
  
And a tough week, he had. First of all, he could not attend his weekly Muay Thai sparring session with Erwin: a fight with an other Alpha during a rut called for a trip to the hospital. He spent most of his days holed up in his office to not come across any nasty Alpha or foul-smelling Omega and did the same at home after work. Hanji tried to come and cheer him up, but was just greeted with more sourness than usual.   
  
Levi had felt numb, drowsy and weirdly horny all week long. He had fallen asleep above his covers once, without his usual rut masturbation he did every night during this crisis, and had woken up from an awful wet dream with a violent nausea. He had ran to his bathroom barely in time to throw up his dinner, aching boner pressing on his mind, head torn apart by urges Levi wanted to push back.   
  
Levi had been tired. And maybe Levi had cried. He did not remember anymore.   
  
  
  
  
For once, the weekend had been welcome.   
  
Laying totally inert on his very expensive couch, the raven had no idea of what to do. He was feeling the symptoms of his rut slowly disappearing, leaving him spent and confused. His mind was blank, exhausted by the hours of tormented negotiation with his instincts craving everything Levi wished to avoid.   
  
For the past few days, his head had been filled with contradictions — Omega, Omega, knot, lust, fight, Omega, Omega, knot, Omega, disgust — and his stomach emptied by the repeated waves of nausea. At one point, he had became scared of eating anything in apprehension of throwing it up.   
  
But now that he could ingest a bit of something, he preferred to enjoy the silence of his house and the stillness of his thoughts.   
  
He only had to bear with it a little longer and he would be back to his usual life, full of scent-erasing masks and empty of any Omega presence. His ordinary life. Normal.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
Monday morning was a wonderful experience. Levi woke up early, had time to work out, eat a wonderful breakfast and made it to work an hour before everyone.   
  
As Levi cleared his desk from the paperwork that had grew there during his rut, his subordinates clocked in one after the other, most of them greeting him with a relieved smile — he had been a total and utter ass the past week, he could understand.  
  
He spent the most of his morning catching up on the numerous scripts he had to read and phone calls he had to make. An hour or so before lunch, he finally stood up to prepare his first pot of tea and strode to the break room with content warming his chest.   
  
He suddenly stopped in his steps when he was greeted with the sight of Jean Kirstein drinking coffee with his friend, Levi's favorite barista. Jean met his eyes, and the raven felt a mix of emotions canter in the brown of his irises — anxiousness, defiance, shyness. When Eren realized his friend had stopped talking, he turned around.  
  
The agent had somehow forgotten the brightness of his orbs, viridian drops crowned by silky strands of chestnut hair. He had to wait a second to take in the attraction he felt for Eren, dumbfounded by his own desires; images of dark bedrooms and wet skins rushed through his mind. The back of his neck prickled with a sudden hotness and Levi felt the need to clear his throat.   
  
Eren was attractive – as long as he kept quiet.   
  
The raven was totally taken aback and had no idea of how to proceed from here. So, as he often did when he had no other options, he instinctively decided to be aggressive.   
  
"Well Kirstein," he began, walking to the edge of the table. The two men looked up at him, Jean squirming in his chair, visibly uncomfortable, and Eren silently holding his gaze. Levi had to take a sharp breath through his mouth to break away from the green and let his pupils fall to the badge pinned to the brunet's jacket. "I don't think those are given to the interns' friends coming for a cup of coffee." He raised his hand to skim other the glossy surface where 'VISITOR' was etched in black, feeling Eren tensing under his touch. "Care to explain?"  
  
"I..." The intern seemed at lost of what to say.   
  
"No, Jean, I..." Eren stood up and — holy shit was he tall — extended a hand. "I'm recently employed here as a new model. My name his Eren Jaeger. Nice to meet you."  
  
Levi froze, gaze set on these sun-kissed knuckles. Memories blurred by his rut came back to him: Eren was Hannes’ new model.   
  
Eren was going to visit the office on a regular basis.   
  
"Sir?"  
  
Levi did not know how to pick up his aggressiveness from here.   
  
After what only seemed a few seconds, but was probably a lot more, he saw the brunet withdraw his hand, fingers fidgety, and he had to fight the instinct to reach out and grab it violently — he still wanted to keep his dignity untouched.   
  
Levi raised his gaze to the other Alpha’s and saw embarrassment inked in red on his face.   
  
“Hannes is your agent,” was the only thing the raven could think of saying. The brunet nodded slowly, arms pressed against his sides, hands taping an uneven rhythm on his thighs.   
  
Everything fell back into silence; the smaller Alpha simply staring at the model face, completely ignoring his intern.   
  
It was Eren's turn to clear his throat, throwing a glance to his friend for help. When nothing happened and they just stood there in awkward silence, the brunet tried a timid "well, I better be going,' and took off without adding anything.   
  
Jean soon followed, leaving an unusually still Levi in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably go to sleep or read something quietly, certainly not obsess over how this fandom needs a Bohemian Rhapsody-ish AU. Not my fault, I cried in front of the movie in the plane.


	7. Enemy's Den

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of coffee shop and œuf cocotte.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. Sometimes I forget that I write. (I also forgot how much I loved this AU, cripes)

Eren felt weirdly offended, almost as if he had been rejected; maybe that had been the case, Levi had refused to shake his hand.   
  
He did not understand such a blatant disinterest. Levi had stared at his hand for a good minute — at least — before holding his gaze, but did nothing. Levi had taunted him, looking at him from behind long onyx eyelashes, not accepting the greeting, refusing the contact that would gave Eren the illusion of respect.   
  
Eren had wanted to shake him out of his silence, to morph into the monstrous thing he became under the pressure of anger to instigate a reaction on his face. To ripe the mask off of his face and read a glorious surprise at the corner of his lips. To break into his personal space, crush him under his most aggressive scent and make him kneel before him.  
  
Levi was more of an ass than he ever suspected.   
  
And Levi was still awfully attractive.  
  
"Hey, you're okay? Don't mind Ackerman, he's usually an ass, but with his rut... He's the assest of all asses." Jean said, clapping a hand to the brunet's shoulder as they made their way to the elevator.  
  
"Well, yeah, I knew that from Marco, but still..." Eren shrugged. "Not what I expected."  
  
Jean nodded. "Yeah, he's usually polite with the staff around, as long as he doesn't have to touch an Omega. I didn't expect him to just... Stare at you. That was weird. He didn't even insult you." He took a short breath and huffed, "he didn't even insult me."  
  
Eren sighed, pushing the elevator button. "We probably won't have to see each other a lot." The doors slid open and the Alpha took a step inside before facing his friend. "See you 'round, HorseFace."  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
The sky was covered by a soft blanket of cotton, cool breeze ruffling Eren's hair.   
  
He was meeting Mikasa in a coffee shop near the office, as his sister had stayed out all weekend, not even trying to be discreet about it anymore. He had missed her for their weekly telenovela session. Their mother had asked questions, but Eren did not offer any answer; it was clearly not his role to announce Mikasa relationship.   
  
His steps came to a stop when he stood in front of the building, hearing his mother's voice chastising him for bringing profit to a rival at the back of his head. He exhaled sharply, and entered the shop with a silent apology to his favorite woman in the whole wide world.   
  
Mikasa was already seated and was waiting for him with two cups of coffee — Eren did not doubt for a second that she had ordered his favorite. He strode to the table and took the seat opposite to hers, radiant smile splitting his face in two, genuinely happy to see his sister.   
  
"Hey," he greeted with enthusiasm.   
  
"Hey," she responded more shyly, but still joyous.  
  
"How are you? I feel like it's been a while."  
  
Mikasa smiled, small and brief, but honest. She then hid it behind her cup as she took a short sip.   
  
"I'm good. And you? I heard you got your first shooting with your agent?"  
  
Eren chuckled, the idea of being a real model still seeming unbelievable. "It's good. Hannes is a good guy, he's..." He took a short pause, pondering if it was information his sister would be ticked of by, "He's... drunk, most of the time, but no one seems to mind, and he does a great job. We get along really well."  
  
Mikasa frowned for a second.  
  
"He's drunk? Eren, it's not because you're new in this world that you should settle for..."  
  
"Mikasa,” he cut her off, “I swear, he's good. Everyone tells me so. I trust him, and he doesn't even seem drunk. He just smells like a brewery. But I'm happy to work with him."  
  
The woman cupped her coffee, letting warmth seep in her palms, lips drawn into a fine line.   
  
"If you say so... Just, don't let people walk all over you because you're new at this."  
  
"I won't. Don't worry." Eren assured, taking a tentative sip of his latte. It was sweet: perfect.   
  
Silence felt natural between them, but the brunet did not let it settle for too long.   
  
"So, why are we meeting here instead of Mom's coffee shop?"  
  
Mikasa raised her eyes to his, before letting them fall on her fingers, softly stroking the ceramic they held. As usual, she went straight to the point, declaration curt and simple, "I'm thinking of moving out."   
  
Eren blinked, leaning forward to make sure he had not misunderstood. "You want to leave the house?"  
  
The woman nodded, tapping the side of her cup to busy her hands. "Yeah. I... The commute isn't terrible from home, but it's getting tiring. And... And I want Annie and I to have our own space."  
  
"You want to move in together?" Eren asked, leaning over the table, brows furrowed and visibly tensed.  
  
Mikasa shook her head, a small smirk tugging at her lips, and the brunet relaxed back in his seat.   
  
"No, I agree, it's too soon. But Annie has two roommates, and they are really nice but... If I had a place on my own, it would be great."  
  
Eren felt a soft blush settle on his nose, suddenly embarrassed to think of his sister's nightly activities while looking at her face. He hid behind the white of the ceramic, taking a large mouthful of sweetened coffee.   
  
After a little while, he felt confident to not stutter, "Mom and Dad shouldn't oppose it. They would probably worry about your meals, but well, they let me, the irresponsible kid, live alone. You will be fine."  
  
A fond little smile drew itself on her lips. "You're living just above Mom's shop."  
  
Eren stuck his tongue out, a childish pout to express the discontentment to seem as unreliable by his whole family. Mikasa did not let her smile slip away.   
  
After a little while, the brunet simply said, "And I won't have to cover for you every time you're staying out. Really, you may want to tell Mom soon, or she will end up following you one day. She's too curious for her own good."  
  
The woman's face fell a little and Eren stopped his movements mid-sip, not sure of what upset Mikasa.  
  
The woman finished the last of her coffee in a large gulp before explaining, "I'm really scared of their reaction. We're both Alphas and..." She raised a hand when she saw Eren open his mouth, "I know, I know, I can have kids and everything, but that doesn't mean they will like it. Relationships between Alphas are supposedly difficult. And nobody likes to see two Alphas together. And don't tell me I don't have to be scared or whatever, you're scared too." Once again, Eren tried to say something, only to be harshly cut off by Mikasa, "You haven't told anyone that you were gay, Eren, because you know you're not only attracted to Omegas. Don't tell me it's going to be okay. I didn't even know you had dated guys, and I know you better than any of our friends, better than Armin, better even than our parents. You didn't tell me before... Before..." She left her sentence here, "and I know it's not because of lack of trust."  
  
Eren opened his mouth once more, but no words came to his mind. He fell in his chair and lowered his eyes to his hands joined on his lap. Suddenly, he felt shame creeping up his back and settling on his shoulders: he knew what he had tried to do, unconsciously. And Mikasa knew it too.   
  
He had wanted his sister to taste the water with their parents, to see if he could live his life the way he wanted it with the support of his mother and father.   
  
"I'm sorry," he whispered to the bottom of his cup.   
  
"Don't be," answered the woman with a sigh, "it's okay, I'm sorry, too, for taking my anxiety out on you."  
  
Eren nodded and lifted his head to meet his sister’s eyes, full of empathy and affection despite everything.   
  
"I have to go," Mikasa told him after a few seconds, "I have to study before my afternoon class."  
  
The man stood up with her, small smile at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah, I'll probably go home and eat some cup noodles."  
  
Mikasa sighed while adjusting her bag on her shoulder, "Don't you have a diet to follow or something?"  
  
Eren smirked and shrugged, answering that everyone thought his body was perfect the way it was. They were near the door when the brunet was stopped by a booming voice calling his name. The Alpha spun around, feeling his sister do the same, and was met with the clear sky of Erwin Smith's eyes.   
  
The brunet smiled despite himself, unable to be indifferent to the man that gave him the opportunity of his life and walked up to him, Mikasa on his heels. It was only when he got closer that he noticed the man sitting with him, previously hidden by other customers; Eren face fell with a twitch of his eyes.  
  
It was the second time this day that the icy-grey irises settled on him and it made the brunet shiver with all sort of conflicting emotions. Anger and disappointment first, quickly followed by incomprehension. Then came the weird attraction that lightly tugged at his gut whenever he saw him, ever since the raven had revealed his face to him. He pushed it down, as far as he could and turned all of his attention to the blond.   
  
"Hi, Mr. Smith."  
  
Eren could swear he heard an almost silent chuckle from Ackerman, but he only saw the composed and neutral face he had learned to know when he throw a glance his way.   
  
"Hello, Eren."  
  
The brunet introduced Mikasa as his sister; Erwin extended his arm and shook hands with the young woman, smile unfaltering despite the woman’s curt answer to his greeting. Eren felt the embarrassment of his morning come back in full force as he felt jealousy for sharing a handshake so easily, without long silences full of awkwardness.   
  
"I saw you and thought of introducing you to Levi Ackerman, our best agent at the company."  
  
"We met," the brunet revealed, a bit too abruptly to go unnoticed.   
  
Eren bit the inside of his cheeks, feeling smaller under the two Alphas' gaze, and a total idiot for not swallowing down his bitterness. Thankfully, soon enough, Erwin turned to his subordinate, a small smirk tugging his lips upward.   
  
"Oh, really?" He asked, tone light, looking directly in Levi's eyes.   
  
"This morning." The smaller man supplied to the silent question, openly glaring to his superior.   
  
Erwin simply smiled, redirecting his attention to the siblings.   
  
"Would the both of you like to join us for lunch? Well, to join me, Levi is simply keeping me company here."  
  
Eren tensed significantly and before he could deliver an answer, Mikasa had already said, "I'm sorry, we have plans with our friends. Maybe another day." And was tugging her brother behind her to the exit.   
  
"Wait, Mikasa," the brunet tried as the chill air of April skimmed over his cheeks, "What are you saying... where are you going?" He asked when he saw his sister's car and was still dragged by the woman.   
  
"I'm bringing you home.” She stated. “Are you okay? You smelled a bit aggressive in there."  
  
Eren furrowed his brows. "Was it obvious?"  
  
"No, I just know you well."  
  
"Oh. Good. I don't want to be rude."  
  
Mikasa gave him an unreadable glance before opening the door to the driver seat and ordered him to get in. When they were both seated, the woman pulled out and drove onto the streets.   
  
"Was it the man with the mask?"  
  
Eren's heart jumped in his chest. "Huh?" He eloquently answered.   
  
"He was the one who upset you." It was not really a question, more of a confirmation than anything.   
  
"Oh. Yeah. It's... It's kinda complicated. Well, more long than complicated, really, but, well..." The brunet thought for a second. "Do you think we could have lunch at Armin's before your class?"  
  
Mikasa took a moment to consider it. "Yeah, I'll probably study with him if he's up for it."  
  
"Okay, let me call him."  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
An exhausted Armin opened the door to his house and let them in without a word.   
  
"Armin, when was the last time you slept?" Eren asked while taking his shoes off and seeing the man stagger in the hallway.  
  
"Last night." He answer before disappearing in the living room.   
  
"How long?"  
  
Mikasa joined her fellow medical student, leaving her worried brother in the doorway. The Alpha followed his two friends to the living room and found them already leaning over stacks of papers colorfully highlighted.   
  
Eren knew there was no point trying to talk to them in this state and decided to prepare lunch. He strode to the kitchen and opened the fridge, looking for something to make a substantial meal for his tired best friend. Not to his surprise, it was totally empty and the brunet cursed himself for not stopping on his way here to buy some groceries.   
  
He went back to his friend and sister, stuck his head through the door frame and asked, "I'm going out to buy groceries, any request for lunch?"  
  
The Alpha did not expect an answer but Armin perked up and said with a smile, "I would love the creamy thing you do with eggs in the oven."  
  
Eren nodded. "Got you. I won't be long. Mikasa, I'm taking your car." She grunted her approval with a frown to the notes in front of her.   
  
The brunet fished the keys from his sister's jacket and was out of the door in a matter of seconds.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Eren came back with bags full of groceries, worry having taken over during the shopping and making the brunet fill his cart with heaps of food for Armin to cook. He would be sure to give his best friend a few simple and quick recipes to make between his classes and his different volunteer actions. The blond was exhausting his body and mind, but refused to take some time for himself. Eren did not understand his stubbornness.   
  
With a sigh, he placed the bags on the counter and begun to fill the fridge and the cupboards, only leaving out the eggs and the crème fraîche he had just bought. He made quick work of the ingredients, cracking an egg between two layers of cream in a ramekin, adding a bit of salt, pepper and chives on top and breaking the yolk with a knife. He repeated the process with two other ramekins, covered them with a plate and put them in the microwave for half a minute. Meanwhile, he begun to slice some fresh bread he got at the supermarket's bakery. When the microwave oven struck the end of cooking, Eren took the eggs out to let them cool a little and took it upon himself to make a salad with lettuce and tomatoes for his vitamin-deprived best friend.   
  
"Kids, lunch is ready!" He shouted in the general direction of the living room, while he set the table, plating the salad and the eggs and filling the glasses with water.   
  
Armin and Mikasa sat in front of their plates, delighted faces when met with the steaming eggs in pot.  
  
Eren had a smug smile and encouraged them to dig in with a movement of the head. At the first bite, he saw Armin melt in content, and took a slice to dip in his food. The cream-soaked bread rolled on his tongue, spreading comfort on his taste buds and warming his heart with its richness.   
  
In minutes, they had emptied their plates without a word.   
  
When Eren was clearing the table and putting the plates in the dishwasher, Mikasa finally engaged them in a conversation.  
  
"So, Eren, what happened with the guy at the coffee shop?"  
  
"Ohhh, a guy." Armin sung with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes, rapidly extinguished by the female Alpha's glare. The Bêta's face fell. "Oh, not that type of guy."  
  
Armin heard about Eren being gay soon after Mikasa’s discovery. He had been totally unfazed at the news, _Eren, you used to want to marry my cousin, of course you’re gay._   
  
While Mikasa filled her best friend on the morning events and her brother tension, Eren pulled ice cream out of the freezer and put bowls on the table. He proceeded to give a large service of the delicacy to everyone and when he was finished, they were both eagerly waiting for an explanation.   
  
"Well, first I have to tell you what you missed from your dying social lives as pre med students."  
  
He revealed the incident involving Marco and Levi — Mikasa face hardened at that, Eren quickly pointed out that the Alpha had some kind of "Omega intolerance" and that he had apologized properly offering psychological support for Marco.   
  
"Well, we can't really condemn him for a thing he can't control, right?" Was Armin first words. "Eren, you shouldn't be rude and go all Alpha on him just because of that."  
  
"I didn't!" He retorted around a mouthful of his dessert; Mikasa gave him a disgusted frown at the sight. "And his Omega thing is okay, he's just... He's just an ass."  
  
"How so?" Inquired the blond.   
  
Mikasa was sitting very still, hands cupping her half-eaten bowl of ice-cream.   
  
Eren sighed heavily. "I... We met at the office this morning, and I introduced myself as a model and he... He just stared at me and didn't even shake my hand."  
  
"So... He's an ass because of that?"  
  
"No..." The brunet bit his lower lip. "Yes. I don't know. It felt so... So... I don't know, like I wasn't even worth his time."  
  
"He's not your agent, right?" Asked Mikasa.  
  
"No."  
  
"Then, forget about him. You won't see him anyway. Let him be an ass alone."  
  
Armin nodded to that, already shoving the last of his ice cream in his mouth. The brunet exhaled shortly, playing with the melted mess in his bowl with the tip of his spoon.   
  
Eren did not mention the encounters he had with Levi in his mother's coffee shop; it felt too weird to think of the flirting Levi brushing his fingers accidentally and lowering his mask to reveal a kissable mouth when all he had since he had learned his name was rudeness and empty stares. The brunet had loved to have someone make advances to him, an Alpha moreover, but now the disinterest felt even more cold and obvious.   
  
Everything had been over when he went to work this evening and found Ackerman seated in front of Marco. Eren did not know why, but Levi stopped everything there, leaving all of his expectations in the mud.   
  
Eren was hurt by the indifference, insulted by the rejection. And could not do anything about it except move on with his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the support and the comments, I read and treasure every one of them even if I take a millennium to answer them.
> 
> Also, the recipe in here is legit. I advise something like 45 min at 700 W for your eggs, you want them hot but not firm. Fresh eggs are necessary. Crème fraîche is heavy cream I think? (and seriously this shit is sooooo easy, it's my go-to lazy meal.) I would link a recipe if I had found a good one in english, but you people tend to complicate the simplest things.

**Author's Note:**

> It's my first time writing and publishing in English. I hope I don't write like a ten-years-old. If I do, I need a Bêta. 
> 
> I got a Bêta. (I don't know if I write like a ten-years-old but [cinnabyunroll](https://cinnabyunroll.tumblr.com/) is my knight in shining armor).
> 
> [Tumblr](https://zoupia.tumblr.com/)


End file.
